Unwilling “terrorists”: The Insider speaks with the men the Kremlin accuses of bombing the Kerch Strait Bridge
Four years after Ukrainian intelligence services blew up a truck on the Kerch Strait Bridge linking mainland Russia to occupied Crimea, Russian investigators still have not succeeded in establishing what exactly exploded, or how. Based on case materials reviewed by The Insider , instead of conducting real forensic examinations, the security forces simply copied the official statement of Ukrainian…
On November 27, 2025, the Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced eight individuals to life in prison, branding them as an organized group recruited by the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) to plant a truck bomb that detonated at 6:03 a.m. Moscow time on October 8, 2022, at the Kerch Strait Bridge. The explosive device was concealed within a shipment of polyethylene film. The two main perpetrators, taxi driver Denis Kovach and his associate, ex-convict Mikhail Tsyurkalo, are currently wanted.
According to the investigation and the convicted men, Roman Solomko, a 55-year-old farmer, found himself in a problematic situation after ordering an expensive ammonium sulfate processing line from China to be delivered to Kherson via the Odesa port. When the war began, Solomko and his company, APK Green Line, were forced into the occupied part of the Kherson Region, making the original transport route impossible.
Seeking a solution, Solomko consulted with Crimean businessmen and decided to bring the equipment through Georgia first to the Poti port, then overland through Crimea to his property in the Kherson Region.
Solomko enlisted the help of his neighbor Denis Kovach, a taxi driver who had experience in illegally transporting people from Ukraine to Georgia. Kovach provided transportation and assistance in negotiating with Georgian brokers and loading the equipment line. Tsyurkalo, an old cellmate of Kovach from a penal colony, became involved in the operation as well. The two men began discussing plans to transport the film to Crimea, and Solomko provided Kovach with contact details for Georgian broker Levan Benashvili.
The explosives-laden cargo traveled through Bulgaria, Georgia, Armenia, and back to Crimea, according to the investigation's theory. This convoluted route was designed to obscure the trail and avoid a thorough inspection at the Russian border, facilitated by the fact that Armenia and Russia are members of the Eurasian Customs Union. Customs clearance in Armenia was reportedly easier, allowing the shipment to proceed unhindered.
Written by urgent.news from The Insider's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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