The Kerch Bridge is "restless" again - on Saturday afternoon, August 12, the first reports of explosions near the bridge across the Kerch Strait appeared on social networks. Subsequently, a number of photos and videos began to spread on the networks, which indicate that the bridge was probably subjected to another attack.
In the widely distributed footage, everybody can see that after the reports of explosions there was heavy smoke in the area of the bridge - the occupiers say that it was a "smoke screen", but in addition to white smoke (the work of thermal smoke equipment), the images also show black smoke (which can be the result of some incidents).
Read more: Destruction of the Kerch Bridge: Ukraine's SBU, Navy Behind the Nighttime Assault State Media Reports
In general, the chronology of events on the Kerch Bridge today looks as follows:
• 1:14 p.m. — the first reports of strikes on the bridge appeared, as well as a number of photos and videos of smoke in the area of the bridge;
• 13:30-13:35 — the smoke around the bridge has cleared
• approximately 14:00 — installation of "a new smoke screen", the occupiers say the threat of an attack remains;
• around 2:15 p.m. — the occupiers report the resumption of traffic on the Kerch Bridge;
• approximately 2:45 p.m. — traffic on the bridge is closed again;
• 15:00-15:05 — two more explosions are reported on the Kerch Bridge;
• 3:10 p.m. — "a new smoke screen" again in the area of the bridge, 8 explosions are reported.
According to the "official" version, voiced by the Gauleiter of the temporarily occupied Crimea, Serhiy Aksyonov, the russian air defenses shot down two missiles in the area of the Kerch Strait, and the bridge itself "was not damaged." Later, Aksyonov reported on another allegedly shot down missile.
At the same time, the russian Defense Ministry says that the attack on the bridge was made by a "S-200 anti-aircraft guided missile converted into a strike version" and that "the missile was detected in time and intercepted in the air." That is, it follows from the report of the Ministry of Defense of the russian federation that only one missile was shot down, but not two, as Aksyonov says.
This is not the first time that the occupiers have complained about attacks by modified S-200 missiles — for example, at the beginning of July this year, the occupiers claimed to have shot down such a missile in the outskirts of Kerch city, and at the end of the same month they talked about strikes on Taganrog and Kerch.
It should be noted, that on the night of 11-12 August, russian propagandists reported that traffic on the Crimean Bridge had been blocked and then restored too as well as an air defense system was supposedly activated in occupied Crimea " to repell attacks by 20 Ukrainian UAVs " to repell attacks by 20 Ukrainian UAVs".
It is currently unclear whether the Kerch Bridge was damaged in today's attack. However, officials of Ukraine have not yet commented on this episode. In any case, systematic attacks on the Kerch Bridge and other objects in the temporarily occupied Crimea have, at least, their psychological effect on the occupiers and residents of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.
We will remind that less than a month ago, namely on July 17, the russian federation "slept through" another attack by kamikaze boats on the Kerch Bridge, during which two spans of the bridge were damaged.
Read more: How Possible It is to Remake S-200 Missiles Into Long-Range Ground Attack Weapon
