After the painful blow that Russia received yesterday morning due to the bombings, which lasted for a long timeTo bridge the link between its territory and Crimea in southern UkraineA, many Western observers and analysts seem to believe that Russian President Vladimir Putin is preparing to escalate his attack on Ukrainian soil.
Especially since the Kremlin had previously warned that any attack on the Kerch Strait would be a red line Doomsday missilesYesterday, however, he contented himself with announcing only the strengthening of the defenses.
‘The specter of nuclear war’
But Western analysts have suggested escalation, while warning of the growing dangers of “nuclear war”.
In this context, General Richard Dannatt, a former commander of the British army, said he expected a more indiscriminate bombing of Ukrainian civilian targets and also warned of the dangers of using nuclear missiles.
Tobias Ellwood, chairman of the defense restricted committee, said Putin would either handle the counterattack or respond to Operation Bridge himself. He said Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure are likely to be renewed as well as intensified attacks that would leave “the greatest possible economic damage and division in the West as well.”
He also warned that the threat of nuclear weapons now “has increased a lot”, according to the British newspaper “Telegraph”.
Qurum Bridge (Reuters)
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of the Russian National Security Council, warned last July that hitting the Crimean bridge would trigger a “doomsday” scenario regarding the possible use of nuclear weapons.
Prestigious icon
Interestingly, a truck blast on Saturday morning severely damaged this bridge spanning the Kerch Strait, which also includes a road and train track, in one shot to an important symbol of the peninsula’s annexation to Moscow. .
It is also an important supply route for Russian forces that controlled most of the Kherson region in southern Ukraine, as well as the coastal city of Sevastopol.
While Russian investigators announced that three people died, it is believed that they were in a car near the exploded truck.
Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, and Putin inaugurated the 19-kilometer bridge connecting the peninsula to the Russian transport network in a grand celebration four years later.
The Kremlin portrays Crimea, whose residents speak the Russian language, as a historical and expensive part of Russia, and the focus has been on promoting this image especially this year, following the launch of the Russian military operation on Ukrainian soil on February 24 (2022).
