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Russia’s Logistics Problems Are Literally Killing Its Soldiers
And with the damaged bridge, time is now Russia’s greatest enemy
The Kerch Strait Bridge still smolders. Where there is no smoke, swathes of the 11-mile-long bridge connecting Crimea with Russia remain charred and significantly weakened.
Normally, such an explosion would close a bridge like this for months to make until it could be made structurally sound. Russia is pushing to open it as soon as possible to show that all is under control.
Russia has to move fast to make sure its troops in the south of Ukraine, most importantly Kherson, aren’t cut off from supplies they need to live not just wage war. At this moment, they are cut off, but they also have enough to last them for a while.
This is why Russia is throwing everything including the kitchen sink at solving this problem. The few workarounds, however, are limited and quite dangerous. They require that trucks — Soviet-era trucks — drive practically parallel and close to the front.
This leaves Russia with a choice: fix the Kerch Bridge fast, or risk its brigades on the southern front — already weakened by months of bombardment — starving on the brittle vine of Russia’s collapsing supply lines (Brigades Depended On One Major Bridge).
