Henichesk Bridge () is a rail and road bridge located in southern

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. It was designed by

Waagner-Biro Waagner Biro is a Vienna-based group of companies formerly part of the same group which have developed into separately owned, independent companies operating in steel and mechanical engineering. Collectively, the companies have about 1000 employees ...

and built in 1915. The bridge is an icon of the European architecture style that this group utilizes.

Location

This bridge is located in the Henichesk Raion of Kherson Oblast, and traverses the

Henichesk Strait The Henichesk Strait (alternatively Genichesk Strait; , , ,) is a narrow strait which connects the Syvash (the shallow lagoon system separating the Crimea from the rest of Ukraine east of the Isthmus of Perekop) with the Sea of Azov. It separates ...

. This bridge connects the

Arabat Spit The Arabat Spit (; ; ) or Arabat Arrow is a spit (landform), barrier spit that separates the large, shallow, salty Syvash lagoons from the Sea of Azov. The spit runs between the Henichesk Strait in the north and the north-eastern shores of Crim ...

with the European mainland, and is therefore a strategically significant point.

History

The Henichesk Bridge was built in 1915 by

. In 1951, German engineers transported this bridge from the Belarussian city of

Orsha Orsha (; , ; ) is a city in Vitebsk Region, Belarus. It is situated on the fork of the Dnieper, Dnieper River and Arshytsa River, and it serves as the administrative center of Orsha District. As of 2025, it has a population of 101,662. History ...

towards

Henichesk Henichesk (, ; , ) is a port city along the Sea of Azov in Kherson Oblast, southern Ukraine. It serves as the administrative centre of Henichesk Raion. Since 9 November 2022, it has served as the temporary administrative centre of the Russian o ...

. This bridge replaced a wooden bridge at a similar location, which was destroyed during the Second World War. According to a report from the in 1956, this bridge was built from "overhead structures, trophy collapsible overhead structures of the Rot-Wagner (RV-1) type, removed from the temporary bridge across the Dnieper from Orsha. At the end of December 1951, regular train traffic was opened on the bridge". Until 1968, this bridge was used as a rail bridge, and was part of the

Novooleksiivka Novooleksiivka () is a rural settlement in Henichesk urban hromada, Henichesk Raion, Kherson Oblast, Ukraine. It had a population of History In 1874 under the Russian Empire, a small railway station called Novooleksiivka was founded near a vi ...

-Valok line. Since this region is prone to thunderstorms, the rails on the bridge came to be effectively destroyed over the years. Instead of replacing new rails, this bridge was then used for road traffic instead. In the 1980s, another concrete bridge was erected about half a kilometer away. Since then, this bridge has been mainly used for sightseeing and fishing instead of transportation. On February 24, 2022, at the onset of the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, a member of the Ukrainian military,

Vitalii Skakun Vitalii Volodymyrovych Skakun (; 19 August 1996 – 24 February 2022) was a Ukrainian marine combat engineer who was posthumously awarded the Hero of Ukraine, Order of the Gold Star. He sacrificed his life in the Russian invasion of Ukraine while ...

, blew up this bridge to stall the Russian advance, and sacrificed his own life in the process. Two days later, Ukrainian president

Volodymyr Zelenskyy Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy (born 25 January 1978) is a Ukrainian politician and former entertainer who has served as the sixth and current president of Ukraine since 2019. He took office five years after the start of the Russo-Ukraini ...

posthumously awarded him the

Hero of Ukraine A Hero of Ukraine (HOU; ) is the highest national decoration that can be conferred upon an individual citizen by the president of Ukraine. The decoration was created in 1998 by President Leonid Kuchma. As of 6 June 2025, the total number of re ...

Construction

Henichesk Bridge utilizes the "Waagner Roth" system, developed by the Austro-Hungarian company of the same name during the First World War. During the war, the construction of a

prefabricated Prefabrication is the practice of assembling components of a structure in a factory or other manufacturing site, and transporting complete assemblies or sub-assemblies to the construction site where the structure is to be located. Some research ...

railway bridge, which would have the least amount of assembly equipment and time needed, was developed by a young Austrian engineer, Friedrich Roth (1878-1940). This system was originally used to quickly replace destroyed bridges, including rail bridges, which was an important capability in wartime. This method allowed for the construction of up to 26 meters a day, but was relatively expensive. The bridge structure was assembled from small typical elements in a hanging position with a cantilever length of up to 50 meters. At the same time, additional supports were not required. A crane-like lifting device was located at the top of the bridge. It moved as the object lengthened, thus the bridge built itself. The iron bridge structure was built without a single welding seam. The thread is twisted exclusively on bolts and nuts.

References

{{Reflist, 2 Bridges completed in 1951 Bridges in Ukraine by river