Ironically, on the Crimean Bridge, the Kremlin's prestige project, there was a serious explosion on Saturday - with serious consequences for Russian logistics: numerous trucks have been waiting in Kerch for days. And will obviously not make any progress for a number of days.
The damage to the Crimean Bridge is apparently leading to massive traffic disruptions in Kerch. As the US broadcaster ABC reports, truck drivers have been waiting at an airport in the city since Sunday. "We haven't moved a meter since October 9," the station quoted one of the drivers stuck there as saying. And according to the authorities, they would have to wait there for at least another four days.
The Crimean Bridge was badly damaged by a bomb explosion on Saturday. The explosion killed three people and started a major fire. In the meantime, traffic on the logistically and symbolically important bridge has partially resumed - but only for cars and trains.
Trucks currently have to take ferries or drive via the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, which has been largely destroyed - neither option seems to solve the traffic problem. ABC quoted a driver as saying that only 20 to 40 cars can be transported on a ferry every day and drivers have no need to go through Mariupol.
"My wheels are not in good condition to drive through Mariupol. If the wheel is damaged there, you have to stay. Those who have cars in good condition drove," another Russian truck driver is quoted as saying. In addition, some drivers did not want to take the route over the largely destroyed city due to safety concerns.
The explosion is not only causing problems in Kerch in Crimea. After the explosion, the Russian news agency Tass reported 170 trucks waiting to cross from Russia to Crimea.
The Crimean Bridge is of great logistical importance for Russia and is used during the war to resupply Russian soldiers with military equipment. In 2014, Russia's President Putin annexed the Ukrainian Crimean Peninsula in violation of international law and had the 19-kilometer bridge built in a very short time at a cost of the equivalent of billions of euros. In 2018 he personally inaugurated the bridge. The attack on the bridge, just one day after Putin's 70th birthday, was therefore also of great symbolic power.
