Missile attack on ports, ships! Congestion, over 100 ships stranded

Following the bombing of the Crimean bridge in October last year, less than a year later, in the early hours of July 17, the bridge over the Kerch Strait connecting the Crimean Peninsula was once again bombed, with the highway pavement partially damaged and the traffic jammed for several kilometers; more than 100 ships were stranded in the anchorage of the Kerch Strait due to the implementation of the ban on passage through the Kerch Strait.

As of the morning of July 19, the Crimean Kerch Strait remained closed to ships entering and exiting ports in the Sea of Azov, where all ports either belong to Russia or are controlled by Russian forces.

The situation at the Crimean bridge in the aftermath of the explosion may have been worse than the Russian and Ukrainian sides officially claimed. How else to explain the continuing ban on crossings? Either it is due to security concerns about possible hostile activity by passing ships or concerns about the structural stability of the bridge, which makes it extremely dangerous for ships to transit.

According to statistics, more than 100 ships are stuck at anchor in the Kerch Strait in the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea, and dozens more are en route. Most of the ships list the port of Kavkaz (Kerch Strait) as their destination, but of course they sail either to ports in the Sea of Azov or to ports in the Black Sea or even farther into the Mediterranean.

In a tweet, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a U.S. think tank, said that the July 17 attack on the Crimean bridge could have a significant and lasting impact on Russian logistics.