- Russia is sinking its own ferries to create a protective barrier in the Kerch Strait, Ukraine says.
- It says Russia is doing this to protect the Kerch Bridge from Ukrainian sea-drone attacks.
Russia is sinking its own ferries in the Kerch Strait in an attempt to create a barrier that will protect a vital bridge from sea-drone attacks, the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine's Defense Ministry (GUR) says.
In a Telegram post on Tuesday, the GUR said Russian troops were preparing to sink at least six ferries in the strait to safeguard the Kerch Bridge, which connects Russian-occupied Crimea to the Russian mainland.
Russia had already sunk the first vessel, the GUR said, and was preparing to sink its second. It's unclear how Russia is sinking the ships.
But Ukraine said that Russia eventually planned to "install boom barriers between the flooded ferries" to form a defensive line, according to a translation by the Kyiv Post.
Similar to anti-torpedo nets, boom defenses are physical barriers or nets that either encircle potential targets in the sea or cross the mouth of a harbor or a strait for protection against drones. They've been used since World War II.
But Stephen Wright, a drone-technology developer, told Insider the new tactic wouldn't prove useful for Russia, at least against drone attacks.
"I can see that these 'block ships' could be useful against a different kind of attack, perhaps a large ship being hijacked and rammed into the bridge, or even manned submarines," he said. "But against a weapon as small and agile as the sea drones that we have seen though? They won't stop that."
Russia has been trying to deploy all kinds of defenses amid a series of audacious Ukrainian sea-drone attacks in the area, which have previously damaged large warships.
The attacks have ramped up ever since Ukraine unveiled a new sea drone that packs hundreds of pounds of explosives and is faster than anything in the Black Sea, CNN reported.