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Mostly Russian visitors now cavort along its historic beaches, hoping to avoid the Ukrainian drones whizzing toward military targets.
June 9, 2025, 5:00 a.m. ET
Every month, Ukraine unleashes three or four attacks on the Crimea bridge. The latest one, last week, used underwater explosives to try to damage the support structure, Ukraine said.
Each salvo forces the bridge to close, disrupting the main artery between the Russian mainland and the Black Sea peninsula for up to seven hours. While official information is scarce, a channel on the Telegram app warns motorists to avoid crossing, as it did during another recent attack, because a “hail of shrapnel” peppers the bridge when Russia’s considerable air defenses blast the Ukrainian drones.
Ever since Russia seized Crimea in 2014 in a preview of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine eight years later, the peninsula has been a focal point of the conflict between the countries.
Moscow says its conquest righted a historical wrong, and demanded in cease-fire negotiations in Istanbul last week that any settlement include international recognition of Russian control. Ukraine vows to never abandon its claim.
President Trump, amid his spurtive attempts to end the war in Ukraine, has also waded into the argument, suggesting that any peace settlement might include Washington’s recognizing Russian sovereignty over Crimea.
Overall, the war has solidified changes to life in Crimea that began with the annexation, isolating the peninsula as a scenic but volatile beach destination limited largely to Russians. The majority “Crimea is Ours” crowd, nicknamed after a Kremlin slogan celebrating the annexation — tends to downplay the conflict as an inconvenience.
