Russian forces disabling vulnerable bridge components in Ukraine rather than destroying them, expert says
Quick Look
- Russian forces are disabling vulnerable components of bridge structures in Ukraine instead of completely destroying them, according to an expert at the Center for Information and Geopolitical Research.
- The approach is attributed to the Soviet-era structural strength of Ukrainian bridges.
- On October 2, Russia's Defense Ministry reported striking a road-and-rail bridge across the Dnieper in Kyiv used for military supply deliveries to Ukrainian forces in Donbass.
AI-generated summary
Why It Matters
The report comes amid ongoing Russian military operations in Ukraine, with infrastructure such as bridges being targeted to disrupt Ukrainian military logistics. Ukrainian bridges were largely constructed during the Soviet era, contributing to their structural resilience.
MOSCOW, October 2. /TASS/. Russian forces are disabling vulnerable components of bridge structures rather than completely destroying bridges in Ukraine, Boris Rozhin, an expert at the Center for Information and Geopolitical Research, wrote in a TASS column.
"It is indeed difficult to destroy such massive structures [as bridges] <…>. The current campaign, however, demonstrates a fundamentally different approach - systematically disabling vulnerable components of bridge structures," Rozhin wrote.
In his opinion, this approach is due to the fact that Ukrainian bridges have sufficient structural strength because they were built back in the Soviet era.
On the morning of October 2, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that Russian forces had struck a road-and-rail bridge across the Dnieper in Kiev, which is used to deliver military supplies for Ukrainian army groupings in Donbass.
Open Questions
- How many bridges have been targeted using this component-disabling approach?
- What specific components of bridge structures are being disabled?
- Is this tactic intended to allow for easier repair or future Russian use of the bridges?
