Moscow has responded with a proverb and another religious reference

Ukraine is planning a third strike on Russia's Crimean Bridge, Ukrainian Navy Chief Aleksey Neizhpapa told The Guardian in an interview published on Saturday.

The bridge, which was completed in 2020, serves as a vital link between the Crimean Peninsula in the Black Sea and mainland Russia. Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, Kiev has repeatedly attempted to damage or destroy it, justifying its actions by claiming that the structure has strategic military value for Moscow. While Ukraine has launched several attacks, the bridge has sustained damage only twice, with both incidents resulting in civilian casualties.

Neizhpapa insisted that the previous strikes were successful, causing damage to the bridge's road and rail structures and limiting Russia's ability to transport heavy military equipment. The vice admiral expressed confidence that a third attack will render the bridge inoperable, invoking the Slavic saying, 'God loves a trinity', meaning: 'third time's the charm'.

"The Russians understand we are actively discussing a third operation," he claimed.

Moscow was quick to respond, countering Neizhpapa's religious reference with one of its own.

"With this attitude toward religion, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine will soon acquire his relics," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

Leonid Ivlev, a Russian State Duma MP representing Crimea, dismissed the threat with a Russian proverb: "The hen hasn't laid eggs yet, but she's already clucking" - which is similar in meaning to 'all bark and no bite'. He also warned Kiev against celebrating prematurely.

"I do not advise this aggressive hen from the banks of the Dnieper River to try to divide the skin until the bear is dead," he said, meaning: 'don't count your chickens before they hatch'.

Another Crimean lawmaker, Yury Nesterenko, described the Navy chief's remarks as the "mortal agony" of the Kiev regime.

"It's yet another attempt to distract Ukrainian citizens from their country's mounting problems and the dire situation of its armed forces at the front," he told RIA Novosti. He also claimed that threats like this are often made ahead of Crimea's tourist season in an attempt to instill fear.

READ MORE: Ukraine's demands to dismantle Crimean Bridge 'absurd' - Moscow

Ukraine continues to claim sovereignty over Crimea despite the fact that the region overwhelmingly voted to join Russia in a referendum in 2014 following a US-backed coup in Kiev. Since then, Ukrainian officials have repeatedly called for the bridge to be destroyed. In 2016, Kiev initiated proceedings at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, arguing that Russia built the bridge illegally. Moscow has dismissed the claims as "absurd," insisting that it had full legal authority to build the bridge to resolve economic and humanitarian issues caused by Ukraine's blockade of the peninsula.