Crimea Strait Attack a 'Significant Disruption' to Russian Logistics—UK

Ukrainian strikes on eastern Crimea late last month have likely jeopardized Russia's logistics operations going through the annexed peninsula, according to a new assessment.

Missile strikes carried out by Ukrainian forces on May 29 damaged two Russian rail ferries near the eastern Crimean city of Kerch, "rendering them non-operational," the U.K. Defense Ministry said Thursday.

On May 30, Kyiv's military said that it had "successfully struck" the Kerch ferry crossing with U.S.-supplied long-range Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missiles, taking out two ferries and stopping "the functioning of the entire Kerch crossing."

Ukraine said a short while later that its navy had used Neptune missiles to strike an oil terminal and ferry crossing at the Kavkaz port close to Kerch, just over the border into Russia's Krasnodar region.

On Wednesday, Ukrainian navy spokesperson Dmytro Pletenchuk told domestic media that Russia had not resumed operations through the Kerch ferry crossing to supply its troops in Crimea.

Newsweek reached out by email to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment.

Maintaining the flow of supplies and reinforcements through Crimea, which Russia has controlled since it annexed the Ukrainian territory in 2014, is crucial to Moscow's war effort.

Ukraine, which has vowed to reclaim Crimea, has carried out persistent campaigns against Russian logistical operations, infrastructure and military bases on and around the peninsula. Kyiv has deployed naval and airborne drones, as well as missile strikes, against high-value Russian assets, most successfully against the Black Sea Fleet, which is partly based in the Crimean port city of Sevastopol.

"These rail ferries almost certainly provided the primary means of rail transportation for Russian fuel and ammunition train loads to Crimea due to the stringent security measures employed on the Kerch Bridge," the U.K. Defense Ministry said in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday.

The Crimean Bridge, also known as the Kerch Bridge, is a strategically key link between Krasnodar and the peninsula. Ukraine has repeatedly targeted the bridge during the more than two years of war, and the bridge is frequently closed by authorities.

"The degraded rail crossing capacity almost certainly caused significant temporary disruption to Russian military logistics operations and potentially, Crimea's fuel supply," the British Defense Ministry said. Russia will prioritize replacing the rail ferry service as soon as possible, it added.

Ukraine's targeting of the ferry crossings, as well as nearby fuel facilities, shows how "vulnerable" the Kerch Strait is to Kyiv's efforts despite Moscow's "significant investment" in air defenses and security measures, the U.K. Defense Ministry said.

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