New details revealed about Kerch Bridge bombing by Ukrainian official

Ukrainian officials from the country's security services have released new details about the devastating attack that took out the Kerch Strait Bridge for months in October 2022. 

Sections of the road bridge were damaged after a truck bomb was detonated while still on the bridge and the resulting explosion led seven rail cars carrying fuel to catch fire. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky commented on the October 2022 attack in one of his nightly videos according to the Associated Press. But he did not take credit for it. 

“Today was not a bad day and mostly sunny on our state’s territory,” Zelensky explained before adding that “unfortunately, it was cloudy in Crimea. Although it was also warm.”

The damage to the functionality of the Kerch Strait Bridge was extensive and Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee reported two bridge sections had partially collapsed. 

However, while a lot was shared about the damage to the bridge little was known about how the truck bomb and the explosives it was carrying, at least until now—when those details were revealed by a Ukranian official. 

Vasyl Maliuk is the Head of the Security Services of Ukraine and recently revealed in an interview with NK Magazine the details behind how he bombed the Kerch Strait Bridge.

Maliuk told NK Magazine that the bombing was developed and implemented by himself and two of his “trusted employees” according to a translation from Ukrainska Pravda. 

The Security Services of Ukraine had wanted to hit the Kerch Strait Bridge as early as the spring of 2022 and considered attacking via rail freight cars or trucks filled with oil barrels. 

Unfortunately, neither option would hide the explosives so Maliuk and his team came up with the ingenious idea of carefully wrapping their explosive charges in cellophane foil. 

This made the explosives on the truck look as if they were large cargo rolls, which they believed wouldn’t arouse suspicion, a plan that worked and led to the bridge’s collapse. 

Maliuk explained that his team further hid the explosives by working out the thickness they need to hide their custom metal container explosives from customs scanners. 

The total amount of explosives used in the truck bomb was equal to about 21 tonnes of TNT, which Ukrainska Pravda noted was the same as 42 of Russia’s Kinzhal missiles. 

“We used so many people without their knowledge! The Russians detained 22 people and imprisoned them,” Maliuk explained according to a Ukrainska Pravda translation. 

“They are all charged with complicity in a terrorist act. But in fact, they were engaged in their usual everyday business. They were ordinary Russian smugglers." Maliuk added. 

Maliuk also recently spoke with CNN about a second attack on the Kerch Strait Bridge that took place on July 17th, taking credit for the attack and explaining how it was done. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons

Ukraine’s Security Services used surface sea drones that were developed by the group, and in the July 17th attack, they were used to knock out the bridge's concrete supports. 

The second attack took months to prepare and resulted in damage to the road section of the bridge and, according to Russian sources, killed two civilians, according to CNN.