U.S. Greenlights Ukraine To Attack Russia’s Vital Kerch Bridge By Saying It Is A Fair Target For Ukrainian Forces

Kerch Strait Bridge. Credit: Alexxx1979/Wikimedia Commons 

Warzone/The Drive: U.S. Says Russia’s Prized Kerch Bridge Is A Fair Target For Ukrainian Forces 

The $3.5B bridge Russia built to connect with Crimea is a major strategic and economic asset that Moscow seems very concerned with protecting. 

Days after Russian forces were spotted preparing the Kerch Strait Bridge — which connects mainland Russia to Crimea — for missile attacks, statements made by U.S. defense officials signaled that the prized piece of Russian infrastructure is a fair target in their minds. The acknowledgment, however, doesn’t change the fact that the Ukrainian military still doesn’t possess a weapon with a range long enough to strike the bridge from within unoccupied territory. 

At a press briefing held this morning, The War Zone asked a senior U.S. official whether or not there were any preclusions about the use of High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, in Ukraine against certain targets. Speaking to reporters on the condition of anonymity, the official responded by saying that they couldn’t reveal any further information about specific targets, but that “Russian forces’ capabilities and logistics nodes within Ukraine are absolutely fair targets.” The War Zone followed up, asking if there were any hesitations about using the HIMARs against the Kerch Bridge. The official responded as follows.  

Read more .... 

Update #1: Bomb Russia's bridge to Crimea, Ukraine urged -- Financial Times 

Update #2: Ukraine Has Chance to Deal Devastating Blow to Russia: Ex-NATO Commander -- Newsweek 

WNU Editor: Two days ago when the White House announced an additional $400 million in military aid to Ukraine that included 4 more HIMARS (link here). The Financial Times (behind a paywall) said that the 300km long range rockets that these HIMARS can fire will be included in this batch. 

If the delivery of these long range rockets is true, it contradicts what the White House promised only last week when they said that they were not going to supply long range rocket systems to Ukraine that can be used to target sites in Russia itself. Interestingly .... that Financial Times article is no longer on its website.

In the event that Ukraine is successful in knocking out the Kerch bridge using American supplied HIMARS and 300kn range rockets, the Kremlin will see this as a deliberate US attack on Russia using Ukraine as its proxy. There will be a massive blow-back. Most likely the NATO decision-making centers coordinating the war in Ukraine, Germany, and Poland will be taken out. This is when I flee out of Montreal to my chalet in the woods.

Fortunately. If this map is accurate on who controls what territory in southern Russia (link here). The HIMARS with their 300km range rockets will be past the edge of its range.