In 2024, as part of a large-scale campaign of strikes against Russian military facilities in Crimea, Ukraine damaged the Crimean bridge with American ATACMS long-range missiles
This is stated in an investigation by The New York Times into the role of Americans in Ukrainian operations against Russia.
In 2024, the United States, in response to Ukraine’s request for support in returning to the 1991 borders, proposed Operation Lunar Hail as a compromise. The campaign’s goal was to strike Russian infrastructure in Crimea. It was expected that this would force Moscow to begin shifting its resources away from the peninsula.
Of the approximately 100 targets selected for strikes, the most desirable for Kyiv was the bridge across the Kerch Strait, the Crimean Bridge. The NYT writes that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was “obsessed” with the idea of destroying it. After all, the Crimean Bridge is one of the symbols of Russia’s annexation of the peninsula.
Previously, strikes on the Crimean bridge had been a red line for the United States. This time, however, the White House authorized military and intelligence officials to secretly work with the Ukrainians and the British to plan an attack that would destroy the bridge. According to the plan, ATACMS missiles were to target vulnerable points on the structure, and naval drones were to detonate near the bridge’s supports.
However, during the preparation of the operation, Russia strengthened the defense of the supports. Then Ukraine proposed to strike the bridge using only ATACMS. The NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe Christopher Cavoli and Lieutenant General Antonio Aguto opposed this, believing that ATACMS alone would not be enough to collapse the bridge. They urged Kyiv to wait for the drones to be ready or to cancel the strike.
The Americans eventually relented, and in mid-August 2024, the Ukrainian Armed Forces hit the bridge with ATACMS missiles. The strike left several “potholes” that were quickly patched, an unnamed American official told the NYT.
“Sometimes they [Ukrainians] need to try and fail to see that we are right,” the American official noted about interacting with Ukrainians.
The newspaper does not mention the date of the attack in its publication. But it is possible that it was August 16, 2024. At that time, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that it had allegedly shot down 12 ATACMS missiles aimed at the Crimean Bridge. However, Russia did not publicly report any damage to the bridge.
Aside from the Crimean Bridge episode, Operation Moon Hail was a success. Ukraine managed to destroy or force Russian warships, aircraft, command posts, weapons depots, and equipment out of Crimea to avoid strikes.
- Russia began building the Crimean Bridge across the Kerch Strait in February 2016 and put it into operation in May 2018. First, the automobile part was opened (May 15, 2018), then the railway part (December 25, 2019), and the cargo part at the end of June 2020. The Russian Federation used the bridge to transfer troops and weapons to Crimea.
- On October 8, 2022, a truck exploded on the Crimean Bridge. The explosion collapsed part of the spans and caused a large-scale fire — the trainʼs fuel tanks burned. Russia declared it a terrorist attack, and its authorities used the incident to justify missile strikes on Ukraine.
- On July 17, 2023, the bridge was attacked by the SBU surface drones, causing one of the spans to collapse. On September 5, the Russians installed a new span to replace the destroyed one.
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