Why the Crimea bridge attack will get under Putin’s skin

The Kerch Bridge has both strategic and symbolic value to the Russian president, writes Bel Trew

Russian officials on the Kerch Bridge yesterday (AFP via Getty)

A pre-dawn deadly assault on the Kerch Bridge is the second such attack in just nine months. As Ukraine pushes ahead with a summer counteroffensive, it amounts to a personal jab at Vladimir Putin, who has often boasted about its construction.

The 12-mile rail and road structure – the longest in Europe – was a £2.7bn prestige project and was opened by Mr Putin five years ago. It links the Russian mainland and occupied Crimea, which Moscow illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014. When it was opened, Mr Putin boasted that Russian tsars had dreamed of building this “miracle” but had never succeeded. Russian state media hailed it as the “construction of the century”.

Since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine last February, the bridge has morphed into a military supply lifeline for Moscow’s men on the battlefield. In the summer it is also gridlocked with Russian tourists wanting to holiday in Crimea – a popular holiday destination, despite the war rumbling mere miles away.