JRL NEWSWATCH: “U.S. Says Russia’s Prized Kerch Bridge Is A Fair Target For Ukrainian Forces” – The Drive/ Emma Helfrich
“The $3.5B bridge Russia built to connect with Crimea is a major strategic and economic asset that Moscow seems very concerned with protecting.”
“… [When] a senior U.S. official [was asked] whether … there were any preclusions about the use of … HIMARS[] in Ukraine against certain targets … the official responded … ‘Russian … capabilities and logistics nodes within Ukraine are absolutely fair targets.’ … [A]sk[ed] if there were any hesitations about using the HIMARs against the Kerch Bridge[,] [t]he official responded …. ‘As I said, there aren’t any preclusions that I’m aware of on Ukrainians fighting on their sovereign territory against Russia.’ [The United States refuses to accept Russian annexation of Crimea, so that, in American eyes, Crimea itself would be considered Ukrainian territory.] … However … Ukraine … doesn’t have the right arsenal for that at present. … [Nevertheless,] at the Kerch Bridge … Russian forces had been seen … deploying decoy barges with radar reflectors and carrying out smokescreen tests to shroud the bridge. … The steady stream of ever more advanced standoff weaponry flowing into Ukraine and [Ukrainian] statements … claiming that the Kerch Bridge is the country’s ‘number one target,’ along with other intelligence (or paranoia) have prompted Russia to start preparing for the worst. …”