On July 23, 2024 Ukrainian forces damaged the Slavyanin rail roll on-roll off (RO-RO) ferry in Port Kavkaz, russia. The strike will almost certainly cause russia further logistical problems in supplying its occupying forces in the south of Ukraine and the regional export of Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG)., the UK Defense Intelligence report.
The Slavyanin has the largest capacity of the three rail RO-RO ferries transiting the Kerch Strait between russia and the Crimean Peninsula. Following successful Ukrainian missile strikes which damaged the other two rail RO-RO vessels on May 29, 2024, the Slavyanin ferry had been put back into service following a collision in late 2023 as the only rail RO-RO ferry. Vehicle RO-RO ferries are also in operation. Prior to its redeployment, the Slavyanin ferry was highly likely transporting LPG via the Kerch port, before it was exported.
Read more: Another Ferry Lost to Ukrainian Strike on Kerch Strait Crossing (Updated)
Rendering RO-RO ferries non-operational, even temporarily, highly likely imposes increased costs as well as reducing russia’s flexibility to transport fuel, munitions and equipment across the Kerch Strait. It is highly likely that russia will now have to risk the movement of fuel trainsets across the Kerch Bridge, something it had tried to avoid since the first attack on the bridge in October 2022.
Read more: Ferry Crossings Over Kerch Strait: Throughput and Importance of this russian Logistics Vein in Crimea
