BRIDGE TOO FAR
Watch moment sea drones dodge Russian helicopters’ guns as Ukraine launches attack near Putin’s beloved Kerch Bridge
One local resident said the windows in their house shook during the attack on Kerch
INCREDIBLE footage shows Ukraine's sea drones nip out of the way of Russian fire during an overnight blitz in occupied Crimea.
Meanwhile Kyiv's forces launched missiles towards Vlad's beloved Kerch Bridge - reportedly sparking some 20 explosions and damaging two ships.
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Dramatic video shows the drones flying over water in Uzkaya Bay, western Crimea.
Kyiv's forces dodge the Russian barrage of explosions raining down around them.
The Magura V5 marine drones managed to hit two Russian high speed KS-701 Tunets [Tuna] vessels - despite the onslaught.
The Tuna boats are used by Russian forces for patrolling as well as transport and landing.
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On the other side of Crimea in Kerch, Ukraine successfully targeted a car and railway ferry - both used in Vlad's illegal war to supply Crimea from Russia.
Ukrainian intelligence said: “In order to neutralise the attack sea drones....Russian occupiers in Crimea scrambled military aircraft 32 times."
Their failed attempt included multiple warplanes, helicopters and 30 mm cannons.
The GUR intelligence agency continued: “Nothing prevented the special forces of the [GUR] from successfully completing the combat mission.
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“As a result of the strike, two Russian boats were destroyed - according to preliminary data, high-speed transport and landing KS-701 [vessels].”
Russia was forced to admit it came under attack in Kerch last night - claiming it shot down eight long-range ATACMS rockets supplied to Ukraine by the US.
Vlad's crony in the region - Nikolai Lukashenko - said the entire ferry line in Kerch was suspended following the attack.
He also said Russian forces had to fend off eight drones.
The £3billion Crimean Bridge was closed down to traffic and air defences in the region were activated.
Local Telegram channels reported that Kerch residents heard up to 20 blasts.
Tactical hits by Kyiv in the annexed peninsula have long been a point of humiliation for Putin - who first invaded Crimea in 2019.
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Russian authorities said "vehicle traffic on the Crimean Bridge is temporarily blocked" around 7.30 am this morning local time.
They use the bridge - and the ferries - to transport military kit over to Russian troops in southern Ukraine.
Unverified footage shared online appeared to show the missile strike above Crimea overnight.
Three different blazes - possibly the ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile Systems) rockets - could be seen in the sky.
The tactical surface-to-surface ballistic missiles are fitted with 500lb warheads and can reach targets 190miles away in just five minutes, three times the speed of UK-supplied Storm Shadows.
Russian experts fear the onslaught was the start of an expected bid by Kyiv to blow up the bridge, which has been twice damaged before during the war.
Local outlet Suspilne Krym quoted a resident as saying: "It is very loud in the city now.
"We heard six or seven explosions of approximately the same force. The windows in the house were shaking a little bit."
Someone else said: "Is the bridge intact? It was so loud that doubts took over."
Both the Kerch and Krasnodar regions - on either end of the 12-mile crossing - put their air defences on high alert.
And RBC-Ukraine said two boats used by "Russian invaders" were hit.
One of them was reportedly a Russian KS-701 Tuna type boat used to guard the bridge.
They quoted intelligence sources who said it was an operation carried out by Ukraine.
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Putin's appointed governer in Sevastopol - the port of Crimea - said: "During the repelling of the enemy attack on the transport infrastructure of Kerch, two ferries – a car and a railway ferry – were damaged by the fragments of downed missiles, and the glazing of the extension buildings was damaged.
"There were no casualties."
Vlad's £3bn Crimea Bridge is 'doomed'
BY Iona Cleave, Foreign News Reporter
THE SBU - Ukraine's security service - told The Sun that it plans to use Sea Baby drones to destroy Putin's beloved Crimea Bridge.
In an exclusive interview with The Sun, an SBU general - who goes by his call sign "Hunter" for security reasons - said "The Crimean Bridge is doomed.";
Putin has long claimed his prized Kerch bridge - which he hailed a "miracle" upon its completion in 2018 - cannot be destroyed.
Ukraine says otherwise. For them, its target number one - a grotesque display of 10 years of Russian occupation.
Severing Russia's only land bridge to Crimea would be a major step in winning the war in the Black Sea and choking Putin's war machine.
Hunter said the "unique, classified" USVs were fully designed and built by a "special unit" of Ukrainian engineers, IT specialises, navy officers and SBU secret forces.
"At that time, there was no expertise in the world for drones of such a high technological level," he said.
Remotely piloted using GPS and cameras, the lethal semi-submersibles are guided towards their targets and detonate on impact.
Hunter said: "Unmanned surface vehicles have changed the course of naval warfare."
Out of the 27 vessels Ukraine claims to have sunk or disabled, 11 were hit by Sea Baby drones.
Earlier this year, the SBU unveiled a new fleet of Sea Baby drones that can now "reach a target anywhere in the Black Sea" and carry a one ton payload.
Hunter said: "As a result of our actions at sea, Russian withdrew their most strategic warships from the Sevastopol Bay and are hiding them in Novorossiysk. Ukraine has successfully restored the grain corridor."
Ukraine has already wiped out a third of Russia's once fearsome Black Sea fleet, while the rest appears to be on the run.
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