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- Ukraine has been targeting Russia's Kerch Bridge to cut off military transports to Crimea.
- A top Ukrainian naval commander pledged to destroy the highly symbolic bridge this year.
- "I don't think we have to wait long — this year for sure," Oleksii Neizhpapa said.
A Ukrainian naval commander pledged to destroy a key bridge that connects occupied Crimea with Russia.
Oleksii Neizhpapa, Commander of the Navy of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, made the statement in an interview with Dmytro Gordon, a former Kyiv City Council member and journalist, on Monday.
The Crimean bridge's "days are over," Neizhpapa told Gordon, per a translation by The New Voice of Ukraine.
"I don't think we have to wait long — this year for sure," he added.
The 12-mile Kerch Bridge opened four years after Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, and since then it has been a key supply and logistics route connecting the Russian mainland with occupied Crimea.
Ukraine has repeatedly targeted the bridge, in multiple attacks starting in October 2022.
Neizhpapa failed to specify how Ukraine was going to make good on his pledge.
The Kerch Bridge is of strategic importance to Russia because it's the shortest land route to Crimea, with Russia's military using it to transport large amounts of equipment and soldiers to Ukraine.
It also holds vast symbolic importance. Russian President Vladimir Putin called the bridge a "miracle" when it was first opened in 2018, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has described it as "an enemy facility" that was built in defiance of international law.
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Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the bridge has been repeatedly damaged. A fuel tank explosion took out part of it in October 2022, just one day after Vladimir Putin's 70th birthday, forcing Russia to undertake repair work.
Ukraine did not directly claim responsibility, but officials hinted at sabotage.
Last July, explosions caused longer-lasting damage, with Russia stopping the flow of traffic to and from occupied Crimea via the bridge.
Russia said that the bridge was repaired and fully operational by October, but the UK's Ministry of Defence said at the time that it was "now almost certainly a significant security burden."
Protecting the bridge from Ukrainian attacks will require "multi-domain protection, including the use of air defense systems and crews who would otherwise be deployed elsewhere," the UK MOD added.
Russia has established multiple defenses for the bridge, like smoke screens, sunken ships, and containment booms, to try to protect it.
Meanwhile, Ukraine has continued to develop its drone and naval arsenal, which it has used to conduct operations in the Black Sea, resulting in Russia losing an estimated 20% of its fleet stationed in the region.