Since the moment it was built, the Crimean bridge has been one of Ukraine's main targets in the temporarily occupied Crimea. Even before the full-scale invasion began, russia had concentrated significant air defense assets there.
Nevertheless, gaps in the bridge's defenses allowed the Security Service of Ukraine to carry out three successful strikes. The first attack occurred in October 2022 and involved a truck loaded with explosives.
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In July 2023, it was struck with Sea Baby naval drones. The last incident occurred in early June 2025. This time, an underwater marine drone was likely used to strike the target. Air defenses, which have been built up over many years, are clearly ineffective against such weapons.
By 2023, russia had begun actively constructing physical defenses against various marine drones, and since 2022, it has significantly increased inspections of vehicles crossing the bridge. In 2024, russia began installing piles along the entire length of the bridge.
Around March 2025, the construction of these pile walls was completed. It is also worth noting that barges were placed around May 2024. They form a line along the entire bridge, blocking access from the Black Sea side.
In addition, since 2022, large target barges of project 436Bis have been observed there, intended as decoys for radar-homing missiles.
However, in 2023, due to a storm, some of these barges sank, while others were scattered or pulled ashore. Since then, their use has become infrequent. Czech hedgehogs were also deployed in the water along the bridge to defend against underwater drones.
The latest Sentinel Hub satellite images show what this protection looks like now. From the Black Sea side, two parallel lines of piles run along the entire length of the bridge, defending it against surface and underwater drones.
Videos recorded by locals show that Czech hedgehogs, similar to those previously sunk, are now being installed on these walls.
Two improvised walls were built in case the first one was breached. On the Azov Sea side, there is only one wall of piles, as marine drones can only pass through the fairway beneath the Crimean Bridge arch, a passage that is extremely difficult to navigate without being destroyed.
The satellite image also shows the same barges lined up at a certain distance along the bridge. It can be assumed that they could be used to deploy fire groups with machine guns and various equipment such as cameras, radars, and sonars for target detection.
Such a barge line could also be detected by missile seekers, including the Neptune anti-ship missile. However, this would only be possible if the missile approached the target from the Black Sea, bypassing the Crimean peninsula.
A fairway runs under the bridge arches, allowing ships to travel from the Sea of Azov to the Black Sea. This is the most vulnerable section of the bridge, where the last strike was reportedly carried out using an underwater marine drone. Special structures were initially installed next to the supports to absorb the impact of any ship that veered off course.
The latest footage of the damaged bridge reveals that the water columns are protected with metal screens. They were probably reinforced after the attack in June. Boom barriers have also been installed, apparently to block the passage in the event of danger.
The section of the Crimean Bridge running from Tuzla Island to russia is similarly protected by pile walls, but the line of barges is no longer present.
In 2025, special towers were constructed around the bridge, especially on Tuzla Island, to host Pantsir-S1 air defense systems. These additions further reinforced the extensive, multi-layered air defense system.
Work on the bridge's physical defenses is ongoing, even though satellite images make it hard to judge their quality. The bridge is constantly receiving new levels of protection, which gradually complicates the task of destroying it. However, no defense is perfect, and it is almost certain that any weaknesses will be found again, as happened three times before.
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