(Reuters) – A Ukrainian sea drone assault on Russia’s Crimean bridge in July had “overturned” naval operations and compelled Moscow to resort to ferries to maneuver weaponry, the top of Ukraine’s essential intelligence company stated in a video broadcast on Friday.
Vasyl Maliuk, head of the Safety Service of Ukraine (SBU), stated the second of two main assaults in August had severely disrupted operations on the 19-km (12-mile) bridge, Europe’s longest, and dented the notion of Russian invincibility.
“We’ve virtually overturned the philosophy of naval operations,” Maliuk stated within the first of a collection of televised documentaries entitled “SBU, the Particular Operations of Victory.”
“We’ve destroyed the parable of Russian invincibility. The nation is a pretend. The bridge is doomed. Loads of surprises lie forward and never simply the Crimean bridge.”
Maliuk outlined how the assault, endorsed by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, concerned 5 “Sea Child” seaborne drones — remotely managed from Kyiv, 1000 km (600 miles) to the north.
Video clips confirmed a fiery explosion on the bridge and technicians cheering the end result in a management room.
The documentary stated reviews submitted by brokers confirmed that six of eight supporting buildings have been destroyed and two broken and Russian forces switched to ferries to produce their troops with weapons.
Russia stated the July assault killed two individuals on the bridge linking the Crimean peninsula with the Russian mainland by highway and rail. Site visitors has since been working on the bridge, although Russian officers say restore work continues to be continuing.
The bridge was accomplished amid nice fanfare in 2018, 4 years after Moscow annexed the peninsula, proclaiming it Russian territory perpetually.
The assault on the bridge is considered one of a variety of Ukrainian offensive actions within the Black Sea, together with a missile assault on the Black Sea Fleet headquarters in Sevastopol in September.
Zelenskiy stated this month that Ukraine has seized the initiative from Russia within the Black Sea and, due to the usage of naval drones, compelled Russia’s naval fleet and warships to tug again.
(Reporting by Ron Popeski and Oleksandr Kozhukhar; Enhancing by Josie Kao)