Why comparing strikes on bridges in Kyiv with the Crimean Bridge is misleading: an explanation by the Center for Countering Disinformation
Kyiv • UNN
The Center for Countering Disinformation called the comparison of strikes on the Crimean Bridge and Kyiv’s bridges manipulative. The Crimean Bridge is a military logistics target, while Kyiv’s bridges are civilian infrastructure.
Manipulative posts are being recorded in the international and Ukrainian information spaces, in which Russian strikes on bridges in Kyiv are contrasted with Ukrainian strikes on the Crimean Bridge and other Russian infrastructure facilities. This is reported by the Center for Countering Disinformation of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (CCD), UNN reports.
Details
It is noted that the narrative of "double standards" is being promoted: Ukraine and the West allegedly approved attacks on "Russian civilian infrastructure," while condemnation of Russian strikes is portrayed as hypocrisy.
Such comparisons are a classic manipulation based on distorting the norms of international humanitarian law and ignoring the military-operational context
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It is noted that the Crimean Bridge is not merely a structure, but an illegally constructed facility in the occupied territory of Ukraine, which russia uses as a key transport artery for transferring weapons, ammunition, and occupation forces to the front. Thus, under Article 52 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions, an object is considered a military objective if it makes an effective contribution to military action and its neutralization offers a definite military advantage. At the same time, disabling the enemy's military logistics routes as part of self-defense (Article 51 of the UN Charter) is an entirely legitimate military tactic.
By contrast, the bridges in Kyiv are civilian infrastructure in a rear-area city hundreds of kilometers from the line of contact. They ensure the functioning of a city with a population of several million, the movement of emergency services, and civilian transport. Strikes on the capital's bridges have no direct impact on the situation on the battlefield, but are aimed at intimidating the city's civilian population and creating a humanitarian collapse. This directly violates the principle of proportionality stipulated by international law concerning the laws of war
The agency emphasizes that the Russian army itself systematically destroys bridge crossings in combat zones (Sievierodonetsk, Kupiansk, Donetsk region) to impede the actions of the Ukrainian Defense Forces, recognizing them as military objectives.
"The Kremlin's attempts to portray itself as a "victim" over the Kerch Bridge are manipulation intended to justify its own war crimes. ... It is important to distinguish between legitimate actions to neutralize the occupiers' logistics and deliberate terror against Ukraine's civilian infrastructure," the CCD concludes.
Reminder
In July, Commander of the Unmanned Systems Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Robert "Madyar" Brovdi stated that the Crimean Bridge was not being targeted so that collaborators and Russians could leave the peninsula.