Best air defence in the world at work again protecting the Kerch Bridge. - David
It was attacked by submersible drones. What does that have to do with air defence?- part of my earlier reply
The "Ukraine winning", "Russia weak" narrative relies entirely now on such "PR victories" and is exposed as such to those with an attention span and memory of more than seconds.
Let's examine the attack on the bridge and its aftermath. Does it show Russian weakness? Does it support the notion that Russia is losing? Can't even defend Kerch Bridge?
The first response by Russia was to attack the source of the attack. Odessa has been ended as a port facility for Ukraine/NATO. Fuel dumps, weapons dumps and the source of the submersible drone all destroyed. From videos, Ukrainian air defence was next to non-existent. Huge secondary explosions make clear that targets hit were militarily significant.
The second response, arguably way more significant, is Russia's announcement today that effectively turns the Black Sea into a Russian lake.
"From tomorrow, all ships sailing to Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea will be considered as potential carriers of military cargo, and the flag countries of these ships will be considered as taking part in the conflict on the side of the Ukrainian Government."
- Russian MoD
[/b]
The response from Ukrainian officials is informative;
Not a single cargo ship will call at the ports of Ukraine on the Black Sea after the termination of the grain deal, Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the head of Zelensky's office, admitted. His words are quoted by the Ukrainian media.
"No country will dare to send its ships [to the ports of Ukraine]. And this is not a question of ships, this is a question of insurance companies," Podolyak said.
The already stuttering and inadequate supply of weapons to the Ukraine Armed Forces hit with a terminal blow. There will still be those who cling to the narrative but the above demonstrates very clearly which side has "escalation dominance".
The attack on the bridge has been beneficial to Russia in many ways. It gave them justification to effectively cut off Ukraine from Black Sea access and to destroy the facilities at Odessa used to launch attacks on Kerch. Wouldn't surprise me if it was "allowed" to hit.
