DISINFO: By attacking the Crimean Bridge, Kyiv violated the strictest US ban
SUMMARY
Recently, Kyiv once again violated Washington's strictest ban [on Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory]. The strike on the Crimean bridge is another way out of the red line.
RESPONSE
The claim advances a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative regarding Russia’s ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine.
According to international law, Russian military depots in the temporarily occupied Crimea, as well as large parts of the illegally built bridge across the Kerch Strait in the Black Sea, are legal targets for attacks by the Ukrainian military. Under the Geneva Conventions, this allows for counting the bridge among those facilities which “make an effective contribution to military action and whose total or partial destruction [...], in the circumstances ruling at the time, offers a definite military advantage [para. 2]”; in turn this, disqualifies it as a protected civilian object.
On July 25, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov confirmed that Russian ammunition depots in the temporarily occupied Crimea, as well as the Russian bridge in the Black Sea, are legal targets for attacks by the Ukrainian military.
Ukraine's international allies have repeatedly stressed that Ukraine has the right to carry out any military operations aimed at de-occupying its territories. Commenting on the attacks on the illegally built bridge across the Kerch Strait, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh on July 17 once again stressed that Crimea is the territory of Ukraine.
Ukraine, attacking Russian military bases in the occupied Crimea, as well as the Russian bridge in the Black Sea, does not violate any norms of international law. According to the UN Charter, Ukraine on its sovereign territory can use any methods of self-defense against Russian aggression.
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