Russia has placed a protective barrier of seven barges just south of the Kerch bridge to prevent Ukrainian ‘kamikaze’ sea drones from taking out the key artery.
The measure, reported by usually well-informed Russian social media channels, is a further sign of Moscow’s determination to protect the bridge amid Ukraine’s increasingly bold and successful attempts to sabotage Russian infrastructure.
“It is assumed that cables and chains will also be stretched between the barges,” Russian commentators said.
This may cause additional delays in Russian merchant shipping between the Black Sea and the Russian-occupied Sea of Azov to its north.
Delays have increased since July, when Russia’s secret police started conducting extra security checks on passing vessels to help prevent Ukrainian arms deliveries or attacks.
Kerch Strait observers have seen as many as 200 vessels waiting to transit the strait in the northbound direction, suspecting ship searches to be the main reason.
With violence on both warring sides escalating in the Black Sea after the demise in July of a UN-led safe navigation corridor, commercial shipping in the area has become much riskier.
Both Russia and Ukraine have warned they consider each other’s commercial shipping activities as a potential military target.
Russia has been carrying out drone strikes on Ukrainian ports near Odesa and in the Danube. Russian warships have also conducted in-force ship inspections near the river.
Ukraine, on the other hand, has attacked the Kerch bridge without warning while directly hitting a Russian commercial ship, the 6,600-dwt product tanker Sig (built 2014).
Despite Ukrainian attacks, however, Russia’s seaborne trade has been booming, particularly in the Black Sea.
By contrast, Ukraine’s seaborne trade out of Odesa and the country’s other major ports on the north shore of the Black Sea has largely come to a halt. What’s left in Ukraine is the low-capacity barge and general cargo vessel trade through the Danube.
