Crimean Bridge left vulnerable after strong storm washes away Russian-installed protective barriers
The Crimean Bridge stands more vulnerable after Russian-installed barriers assembled to protect the structure washed away in the deadly “Bettina” storm that smashed southern Ukraine and occupied Crimea in late November, OSINT (open-source intelligence) analyst MT Anderson reported on X (Twitter) on Dec. 1.
Russia had the structures installed following Ukraine’s successful sea drone strikes earlier in 2023.
The bridge’s defenses suffered rather substantial damage, he wrote:
- 3 barges fully submerged
- 1 barge partially submerged
- 2 barges completely washed away
- 1 barge afloat but not tethered to anything
An active southern cyclone brought heavy rains and strong winds to most regions of Ukraine on Nov. 26, and a storm broke out in the Black Sea and Azov Sea. Many roads, including part of the M15 international highway, were closed to traffic. There were reports of people injured in traffic accidents.
In the aftermath of the severe winter storm, more than 2,000 populated areas across 16 oblasts in Ukraine grappled with power outages on Nov. 27. The storm also disrupted road traffic, with the highway between Kyiv and Odesa being blocked by snow drifts 160 kilometers north of Odesa.
Ten people died and 23 were injured, including 2 children, Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko reported on Nov. 28.
A storm warning was also in effect in occupied Crimea, with wind gusts of up to forty meters per second. A state of emergency was declared on the peninsula. The occupying administration reported one death, with 500,000 residents left without power, and hundreds of people evacuated.
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