ISW: The evacuation of tourists from Crimea may disrupt the supply of the Russian army in Ukraine

Undermining the Crimean bridge will affect the ability to supply the Russian army in southern Ukraine, writes the American Institute for War Studies (ISW) in a daily report.

According to analysts, tourists forced to leave Crimea through the occupied territories complicated the movement and prevented deliveries from the peninsula to the rear of the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions of Ukraine. On the other hand, the logistics of the Russian army will be complicated due to the constant influx of tourists to Crimea during the summer season. This is the result of Russia’s continued positioning of the peninsula as a tourist destination.

Russia could supply the army in southern Ukraine via two routes – through the Kerch bridge and through the occupied regions. After the destruction of the facility, there was temporarily only one route left, which the Russian Federation could supply a large number of mechanized forces in southern Ukraine needed to repel the Ukrainian counteroffensive, writes ISW.

Overall, Russian logistics in southern Ukraine is likely to suffer in the short to medium term, the institute’s analysts concluded.

After the explosions on the Krymsky bridge, traffic on it was limited. The authorities offered tourists vacationing in the Crimea to use an alternative land route – through the annexed areas. As a result, at the exit from the peninsula in the Dzhankoy region in the Crimea and in the occupied Kherson region in the direction of Melitopol, many kilometers of traffic jams have formed.

The full restoration of traffic on the Crimean bridge will be possible only on November 1, said Deputy Prime Minister Marat Chusnullin after the meeting with President Vladimir Putin. Renovation of the bridge will not be as easy as last year – admitted the deputy prime minister. According to him, the supports were not damaged, but one 600-ton span was completely destroyed.

For now, the authorities have launched traffic only in the extreme right lane of the Taman-Kerch direction. Cars pass through it in the reverse mode – that is, in turn in each direction.