SBU agents mine the Crimean Bridge. Photo: SBU / Telegram

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has claimed responsibility for an operation which blew up underwater supports on the Crimean Bridge on Tuesday morning.

Writing on Telegram, the SBU said “The operation took several months. SBU agents mined the supports of the illegal structure. This morning at 4:44 am, the first explosive device was detonated without causing a single civilian casualty.”

The SBU said that the operation had caused “severe damage” to the bridge’s underwater supports and that the structure was now “in a state of disrepair,” adding that it had used 1,100kg of explosives in the operation, which it said was personally supervised by SBU Head Vasyl Malyuk.

Ukrainian Telegram news channel Crimean Wind said that local residents reported hearing explosions near the Crimean Bridge on Tuesday morning, though most of their posts were quickly deleted. Traffic on the bridge was closed from 6am to 9am local time, according to the bridge’s own Telegram channel.

While Russia’s Defence Ministry did not comment on the damage to the bridge, which connects annexed Crimea to southern Russia, earlier on Tuesday it reported that air defences had shot down three drones over Crimea and another over the Sea of Azov.

The Crimean Bridge was first attacked on 8 October 2022 when a truck packed with explosives was detonated while driving across the bridge. The explosion caused the road to collapse and a train carrying combustible materials to catch fire, killing five people, including the truck driver.

A second attack on the bridge was carried out on 17 July 2023. According to the investigation, a couple travelling from the Belgorod region of southwestern Russia driving to spend their holiday in Crimea were killed in the explosion, while their 14-year-old daughter survived.