The former supreme NATO commander for Europe, General Philip Breedlove, believes that Kyiv could deal a crushing blow to Russia by attacking Crimea Bridge, which is incredibly important to Moscow.
In an interview for The Times, on Thursday, Breedlove pointed out that the bridge across the Kerch Strait connecting mainland Russia with Crimea is a legitimate target for Ukraine, which now has the ability to try and attack it with the Harpoon anti-ship missiles the West supplied Kyiv with.
Citing his civil engineer training as proof of expertise, he noted that they could render the Kerch bridge unserviceable for a period of time hitting the weak points that all the bridges have. Destroying the bridge completely, on the other hand, would require a dedicated bombing operation.
Just as a reminder, due to the fear that it could be attacked by the Ukrainian military, the Russians strengthened earlier the defense of the Crimean bridge with new equipment.
Breedlove stated that the Russians have every reason to be worried about Ukraine launching an attack on the Kerch bridge as a retaliation act to Moscow tightening its naval blockade on Ukraine.
He even suggested that Russia might go as far as sinking civilian transport vessels carrying grain from Ukrainian ports despite the repeated statements from Moscow that it will provide safe passage for such ships.
Breedlove’s idea for the destruction of the Kerch Strait bridge is not the first. The New York Post previously published an op-ed by the Middle East Institute’s expert Iulia-Sabina Joja who stressed that Kyiv needs to destroy the strategically important land bridge that enables Moscow to steadily resupply forces and launch attacks into western Ukraine.
Breedlove has also been listed as an expert in the same nonprofit think tank.
Russian authorities stressed that the only real obstacle to resuming grain exports by sea is the heavy mining of the Ukrainian coast that Kyiv carried out.
Top Ukrainian officials have also repeatedly floated destroying the bridge as an idea over the past few months after the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate reportedly received the Crimean bridge’s detailed technical documentation.
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