Tue Jun 03 12:00:00 UTC 2025: **Headline: Ukraine Claims Underwater Attack on Crimean Bridge, Third Strike Since 2022**
**Kyiv, Ukraine (CNN) –** Ukraine’s security service (SBU) announced on Tuesday that it successfully targeted the Kerch Bridge, connecting Russia to the occupied Crimean Peninsula, with explosives planted underwater. This marks the third time Ukraine has attacked the vital supply route since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
“The Security Service of Ukraine carried out a new unique special operation and struck the Crimean Bridge for the third time – this time underwater!” the SBU declared on its Telegram channel. The SBU stated that the operation followed Sunday’s audacious air raid on Russia’s fleet of nuclear-capable strategic bombers.
According to the SBU, agents mined the bridge’s underwater piers and detonated the first explosive at 4:44 a.m. local time on Tuesday. The agency claimed to have used 1,100 kilograms of explosives, causing “severe damage” to the bridge’s supporting pillars. The operation reportedly took several months to plan and execute.
Russian officials have not yet responded to Ukraine’s claims. Earlier in the day, the bridge operator’s Telegram account indicated a temporary suspension of traffic, but reported that normal traffic resumed by 9:00 a.m. local time.
The 12-mile bridge, built after Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, is a crucial logistical artery for Moscow’s war efforts and a symbolic project for President Vladimir Putin, representing his ambition to integrate the Ukrainian peninsula into Russia.
Previous attacks on the bridge occurred in October 2022, when a fuel truck explosion caused significant damage, and in July 2023, when the SBU claimed responsibility for an attack using an experimental sea drone. Russia swiftly repaired the damage from both incidents.
Vasyl Malyuk, the head of the SBU, emphasized the agency’s commitment to following through. “God loves the Trinity, and the SBU always sees things through to the end and never does the same thing twice. We previously struck the Crimean Bridge twice, in 2022 and 2023. So today we continued this tradition, this time underwater,” Malyuk said.
This is a developing story.
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