Ukraine and the Transportation Plan
Rachel Moltz
Mon, 10/10/2022 – 16:42
On Saturday a truck bomb that ignited a string of fuel tankers on an adjacent rail line collapsed portions of the twelve-mile, $4 billion bridge connecting the Kerch Peninsula with Russia. Putin ordered the construction of the bridge, which spans the straits between the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea, after Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014. Although rail traffic is underway again, trucks for now need to ferry across the straits. A longer-term interdiction of this bridge would leave the rail line running along the northern coast of the Sea of Azov through Melitopol as the only ground link between Russia and Crimea. Absent the road and rail lines linking Russia with Crimea, Russian logistics in the peninsula would become dependent on ferries and transport aircraft, modes of transport which carry significant limitations. Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the attack, but the targeting of this strategic transportation node fits a pattern of Ukrainian attacks on Russian lines of communication. The liberation of the key communications hub of Izium led to Russian retreat from Kharkiv, while the seizure of Lyman and targeting of the rail …read more
Source:: Hoover Institution
