[UPDATED: June 3, 4:37 pm , Kyiv time. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said it detained a Ukrainian agent in Crimea who allegedly built a bomb intended for a terrorist attack.]

Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) said Tuesday it carried out a new special operation that damaged the Crimean Bridge for the third time – this time using underwater explosives.

The SBU said the mission took months to plan and involved secretly planting explosives on the bridge’s underwater pillars. The blast went off at 4:44 a.m. Tuesday without harming any civilians, officials said.

About 1,100 kilograms of explosives, in TNT equivalent, were used to damage the bridge’s supports at the bottom level, according to the agency. The SBU said the bridge is now considered unsafe for use.

SBU chief Lt. Gen. Vasyl Malyuk personally oversaw the planning and execution of the operation.

“God loves the Trinity, and the SBU always finishes what it starts,” Malyuk said in a statement. “We struck the Crimean Bridge in 2022 and 2023. Today, we continued this tradition – this time underwater. The bridge is a legal target because Russia uses it to supply its troops.”

A Telegram channel monitoring the bridge reported that traffic was halted around 6 a.m. Moscow time and resumed by 9 a.m. By 2 p.m., there was no queue on the Kerch side and about 120 vehicles waiting in line, the channel said.

At about 3:30 p.m., traffic was blocked again. Several pro-Russian military Telegram channels said the bridge was under renewed attack. One post claimed that Ukraine was “punching a passage” through the boom barriers protecting the bridge.

Earlier in the day, the Russian Telegram channel Mash reported that a Ukrainian drone was shot down over the bridge at around 6 a.m., with debris falling onto the road. Cars were driving across at the time, but no injuries were reported. The bridge remained closed for three hours while crews inspected the scene and cleared debris.

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said it detained a Ukrainian agent in Crimea who allegedly built a bomb intended for a terrorist attack. According to the FSB, the suspect confessed to assembling the device using video instructions received from Kyiv. A case of high treason has been opened, Russian state media reported.

Ongoing Target

The Crimean Bridge, which connects Russia to the occupied peninsula, has been attacked multiple times during the war.

In October 2022, a large explosion caused part of the road section to collapse and ignited a train loaded with fuel on the rail section, killing five people. In August 2023, Malyuk called that bombing “one of the realizations” of the SBU, saying the operation involved using unwitting Russian smugglers.

On July 17, 2023, Ukraine struck the bridge again using an experimental naval drone called “Sea Baby,” carrying 850 kilograms of explosives. That attack killed two civilians and injured their teenage daughter. The SBU later released video of the strike.

Ukraine has long called the bridge an illegal structure and a legitimate military target, as it serves as a major logistics route for Russian forces.

Operation “Spiderweb”

The attack came just two days after Ukraine confirmed it carried out a large-scale drone strike on Russian airfields as part of Operation Spiderweb. That strike targeted long-range bombers and reportedly damaged or destroyed dozens of aircraft.

The SBU said the June 1 drone strike took out 34% of Russia’s strategic cruise missile carriers. The drones, enhanced with artificial intelligence and launched from cargo trucks inside Russia, caught airfield defenses off guard.

Ukraine claimed the operation destroyed or damaged more than 40 aircraft, including Tu-95 and Tu-22 bombers and an A-50 airborne radar plane. The estimated cost of the damage ranged from $2 billion to as high as $7 billion, Ukrainian officials said.