Russia is redeploying air defenses to shield a key bridge used by Russia to connect with the annexed Crimean Peninsula that Ukraine has long targeted, according to a Crimean-based pro-Ukrainian group.
"The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation began to massively transfer equipment closer to the Kerch Bridge," Atesh, a pro-Kyiv military partisan group of Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars, said in a post to messaging app Telegram on Thursday.
Moscow is "actively redeploying the surviving air defense installations, aircraft, radars and all military facilities from the western part of Crimea," it continued.
Newsweek could not independently verify this and has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email.
Russia has controlled Crimea since it annexed the peninsula to the south of mainland Ukraine from Kyiv a decade ago. This is not internationally recognized, and Ukraine has vowed to reclaim the territory.
Moscow has used Crimea as a key base for its military, including its naval forces at the southern Crimean port city of Sevastopol, and by setting up logistics hubs to keep its troops in mainland Ukraine supplied.
Ukraine has repeatedly targeted high-value Russian facilities and assets in the peninsula, such as its advanced air defense systems, radars, air bases and naval vessels.
"The Russians are in dire need of air defense systems," the Atesh movement said. "They are able to cover only one area of the peninsula."
Kyiv has also zeroed in on and targeted the Crimean Bridge, also known as the Kerch Bridge, which links the western side of Crimea to mainland Russia.
The Kerch Bridge, a road and rail crossing, was built shortly after Russia annexed the peninsula. It was personally unveiled by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2018, making the bridge an appealing propaganda, as well as military, target for Ukraine.
"The bridge is doomed," the head of Ukraine's SBU security service, Vasyl Maliuk, said in late 2023.
Crimean Wind, a Crimea-based Telegram channel, reported in recent days that Russia was building fortifications around the Kerch Bridge.
Earlier this week, the governor of Russia's Krasnodar region, Veniamin Kondratiev, said Ukrainian drones had attacked a ferry at Port Kavkaz in the early hours of Tuesday, killing one person with a further unknown number of casualties.
Port Kavkaz is part of Russia's Krasnodar region, and is located close to the Kerch Bridge. Ukraine has previously targeted the ferry terminal and an oil facility at the port.
In late May, shortly after Ukraine's military said it had struck the ferry terminal with U.S.-supplied Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS), Kyiv's armed forces said it was protected by modern air defense systems including the advanced S-400, the medium-range Pantsir and the short-range Tor air defense system.
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