Crimean Bridge closed for six hours, leaving nearly 3,000 vehicles queued
Vehicles backed up at the entrance to the Crimean Bridge — the crossing linking mainland Russia and occupied Crimea — on the morning of June 26, the Telegram channel Krymskii most: operativnaia informatsiia (“Crimean Bridge: Operational Updates”) reported.
As of 10:00 a.m. Moscow time, 980 vehicles were queued for manual inspection on the Taman side and 1,780 on the Kerch side, with wait times running three to four hours.
The backup began building overnight, after the bridge was shut from midnight until six in the morning during a Ukrainian drone attack on occupied Crimea in the early hours of June 26.
In the preceding days, the bridge had also seen miles-long traffic jams, with vehicles leaving occupied Crimea making up the bulk of the lines.
In recent days, power outages have hit occupied Crimea and Sevastopol following Ukrainian strikes. Since late May, Crimea has been experiencing a fuel crisis, with fuel sales on the peninsula suspended. Against this backdrop, Crimea has halted admissions to children’s summer camps through the end of summer.
Traffic on the Crimean Bridge is regularly stopped, but full closures lasting several hours are rare. The reasons for closures are typically not given, though it is assumed they occur during attacks on the bridge.
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