Kiev wants to showcase “achievements” to attract more Western support, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said
New Ukrainian threats to blow up Russia’s Crimean Bridge could be timed to coincide with the US presidential election campaign, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has suggested.
In an interview with Izvestia on Saturday, Zakharova weighed in on comments by the head of Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR), Kirill Budanov, who said that Kiev was “working hard” on plans to destroy the crucial link between the Crimean Peninsula and mainland Russia within the next few months.
Ukraine has made numerous attacks on the bridge. In October 2022, the link was damaged by a truck bomb that Russian authorities claimed was orchestrated directly by Budanov. In July 2023, the bridge was hit by a Ukrainian maritime drone. Both attacks resulted in several civilian casualties.
Zakharova insisted that Budanov’s threat was “pure terrorism.” She called it “surprising” that Kiev could be planning to attack the bridge at the height of the US election cycle, which will culminate in November when Americans head to the polls.
“Isn’t this part of the US election campaign, during which convincing evidence of the ‘achievements’ of the White House and the Ukrainian government should be presented?” Zakharova wondered, adding that it could be used to justify further financial aid worth several billion dollars.
“The Americans can’t build anything in Ukraine: neither bridges nor democracy. They can only destroy,” she stressed.
With incumbent Joe Biden having dropped out of the race due to concerns about his age and fitness for office, the main presidential candidates in the US are now Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris, currently vice president.
While Trump has railed against the cost of US aid to Kiev and vowed to end the conflict within 24 hours if elected, Harris has positioned herself as a staunch supporter of the Ukrainian government. Under the Biden administration, the US has provided Ukraine with long-range ATACMS missiles, which were used in an unsuccessful strike on the bridge in May.
Another ATACMS strike on Crimea a month later claimed four civilian lives and injured more than 150 on a beach in Sevastopol. Russia has repeatedly condemned Western arms shipments to Ukraine, arguing that they only prolong the conflict while making the West a direct participant in the hostilities.
