Crimean Bridge damage captured by satellite: photo by American Enterprise Institute

The photo was published by Brady Africk, a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI).

"Ongoing repairs to the Crimean Bridge can be seen in new satellite imagery of the Kerch Strait. The bridge was struck earlier this month," he tweeted. 

What is known about the Crimean bridge

On October 8, 2022, an explosion and fire broke out on the Crimean Bridge, the occupation authorities reported the deaths and accused Ukraine of the attack.

The explosions on the Crimean bridge occurred in the morning of July 17, after which the occupation authorities declared an "emergency" and accused the Ukrainian military of the attack. Damage to the roadway was found on the spans, and 2 deaths were reported.

Ukraine's Security Service says all details of the explosion on the Crimean Bridge will be disclosed after Ukraine wins the war against Russia.

Due to the night's incident, Vladimir Putin convened an emergency meeting, where he promised a "Russian response" to the explosion on the Crimean Bridge.

Russian media claimed that the Ukrainian Defense Forces allegedly shelled the "land route" from Russia to Crimea over 20 times during the month.

Instead, Maxar Technologies published satellite images of the Crimean Bridge after the nighttime explosion on July 17.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told the UN that Russia was using the Crimean Bridge to continue the war in Ukraine, and that it was built illegally.

Later, the Russian government said that the restoration of the Crimean Bridge would take 2 months and cost RUB 1.3 billion.

On July 18, the Russian Defense Ministry again accused Ukraine of attacking the temporarily occupied Crimea with drones.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said at the UN that Russia is using the Crimean Bridge to continue the war in Ukraine, and that it was built illegally.

On July 21, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the Crimean bridge a target of the Ukrainian military and said it should be completely dismantled. According to the president, the Crimean Bridge is not just a logistical road, it is used to supply the war with ammunition, and this is done every day.

On July 22, the occupation authorities of Crimea announced the attack on the peninsula's infrastructure by drones: an oil depot in the village of Oktiabrske was on fire and an ammunition depot at the airfield located there was detonated. Railway traffic was suspended. The Strategic Communications Department of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine confirmed its involvement in the attacks.

On July 24, a spokesman for the Main Intelligence Directorate, Andriy Yusov, commented on the explosions in the Russian capital and the temporarily occupied Crimea and noted that there would be more such events in the future.

Ukraine's Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov says Ukraine will continue to attack Russian-occupied Crimea and the Crimean Bridge that connects it to the Russian mainland.

On July 26, the SBU confirmed for the first time its involvement in the attack on the Crimean Bridge in October 2022.

On July 30, the Express reported that a group of 2,000 elite Ukrainian soldiers is training in the UK to become the frontline force and recapture Crimea by Christmas.