Secret German military recording of Crimea bridge attack plan

According to RT, the Editor-in-Chief of this news agency on March 1 released an audio recording of a conversation between several officials of the German Armed Forces.

The conversation took place on February 19, 2024 between the head of the operations and exercises department of the German Air Force Command Frank Graefe, the German Army Inspector Ingo Gerhartz and two employees of the air force operations center of the German Army Aerospace Command.

One of the central topics of conversation was the possibility of supplying Ukraine with Taurus cruise missiles with a range of 500 km and the possibility of using them to attack the Crimean bridge.

In the recording, the German military also discussed measures to dispel accusations of German involvement in the conflict in Ukraine.

RT noted that so far, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has not made any decision on transferring Taurus long-range missiles to Ukraine. Previously, on February 29, German media quoted Chancellor Scholz's statement opposing the supply of Taurus to Ukraine because of concerns that Kiev would use this weapon to attack Moscow.

At the same time, in the recording, German military inspector Gerhartz admitted that the Ukrainian side still intended to attack the sea route.

During the ensuing discussion, one of the participants suggested that the bridge design might require a significant amount of weapons.

“We have studied this issue thoroughly and came to the conclusion that the bridge is similar in size to a runway. Therefore, to destroy it, we need not only 10, but even 20 missiles,” said an employee of the air force control center of the German Army Aerospace Command.

Inspector Gerhartz suggested that it would be possible to accomplish this mission using French Dassault Rafale fighter jets.

During the conversation, a German military official also said that if the Taurus missiles were supplied to Ukraine, they would be ready for use in eight months. The head of the operations and exercises department of the German Air Force Command, Frank Graefe, noted that if this deadline was shortened, errors in use could occur, "the missile could fall on a kindergarten and again cause civilian casualties."

Representatives of the German armed forces also mentioned the possibility of supplying Kiev with a volume of missiles. In particular, the option of building two trenches, each with 50 missiles, is being considered.

Notably, German military officials called for caution to avoid statements about Germany's direct involvement in the conflict in Ukraine. "We need to make sure that no information turns us into a party to the conflict."

Commenting on the recording, the official spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, stated that the hybrid war launched by the West against Russia is taking many forms. At the same time, she asked the German side to give an explanation as soon as possible, in order to "avoid being seen as an admission of guilt".

A representative of the German Defense Ministry has refused to comment on the published audio recording of a conversation between senior military officials of the German army.

Meanwhile, the German publication Bild said "this recording is real". The author of the article did not rule out the possibility that the recording could have been made in Singapore, where a German military officer was at the time.

Earlier, the German Defense Ministry announced an investigation into the interception of messages from the German Air Force based on information about audio recordings of military conversations related to plans to attack the Crimean bridge.