On the morning of June 26, long lines of vehicles formed at the approaches to the Crimean Bridge, which links mainland Russia with annexed Crimea. The information was reported by the Telegram channel “Crimean Bridge: operational information”.
As of 10:00 a.m. Moscow time, 980 vehicles were waiting for manual inspection on the Taman side, and 1,780 on the Kerch side. The channel said the wait for inspection was three to four hours.
The major traffic buildup began overnight, when traffic on the bridge was temporarily suspended. The crossing remained closed from midnight until 6:00 a.m.
Meduza notes that the bridge was shut amid an attack by Ukrainian drones on Crimea during the night of June 26. In previous days, multi-kilometer traffic jams had also formed near the bridge, with most of the vehicles in line leaving the peninsula.
The outlet also recalls that in recent days annexed Crimea and Sevastopol have experienced power supply disruptions because of Ukrainian strikes. Since late May, the peninsula has also been facing a fuel crisis, and fuel sales there were halted.
Against that backdrop, Crimea suspended admissions to children’s summer camps until the end of the season. Traffic on the Crimean Bridge is stopped regularly, but a full closure lasting several hours is relatively rare. The official reasons for such shutdowns are usually not disclosed, although they are generally assumed to be connected to attacks on the bridge.