The 12-mile Kerch Strait Bridge linking the Crimean Peninsula to Russia, which was badly damaged by an explosion on Saturday, is not just the primary supply route for Moscow’s forces fighting in southern Ukraine.

It is also deeply symbolic for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, a pillar of his disputed claim to the Crimean Peninsula since the completion of the twin road spans in 2018.

Putin presided over the bridge’s opening, personally driving a truck across what is a physical link between Russia and Crimea — land that Putin seized from Ukraine in 2014 and annexed to international outcry.

Ukrainians loathe the bridge, whose symbolism and strategic importance for re-supply have long made it a potential target. Over the summer, the Ukrainian military posted a taunting image on Twitter threatening to strike it with American-provided guided rockets. The video showed the launch vehicle, a High Mobility Artillery Rocket system, floating on a pink inflatable pool raft in the strait, and the bridge in the background.

And at one point over the summer, it appeared to have been targeted: Russian officials said that a drone had triggered air defence systems.Moscow had stepped up counter measures to defend the structure, deploying a target ship — replete with an array of radar reflectors — to protect the bridge from attack and running drills to cover the bridge with a smoke screen.

New York Times News Service