[ad_1]
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Vehicle traffic stopped on the only bridge linking Russia with Moscow-annexed Crimea and a key supply route for Kremlin forces in the war with Ukraine on Monday after a section of it was bombed, killing a couple. and injured their daughter. Rail traffic across the 19-kilometre Kerch Bridge was also halted but resumed after about six hours.
Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee said the strike was carried out by two Ukrainian drones.
Ukrainian officials were timid to take responsibility, as they had been in previous strikes. But in what seemed to be a tacit admission, Ukrainian Security Service Spokesman Artem Dygarenko said in a statement that his agency would reveal details of how the “explosion” was organized after Ukraine’s victory in the war.
The attack was the second major attack on the bridge since October, when truck bombs blew up two of its sections.
A video posted online by Crimea 24 news channel showed part of the bridge leaning and overhanging, but there was no indication that any part had fallen into the water.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khosnullin told reporters that the authorities were conducting a detailed examination of the damage before determining how long the repair would take.
The Kerch Bridge is a clear symbol of Moscow’s claims to Crimea and an essential land link to the peninsula, which Russia captured from Ukraine in 2014. The US$3.6 billion bridge is the longest in Europe and is crucial to enabling Russian military operations in southern Ukraine during the war that It lasted about 17 months.
Russia has expanded its presence in Crimea since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Since then there have been acts of sabotage and other attacks against Russian military and other facilities on the peninsula, with the Kremlin blaming Ukraine.
The attack on the bridge comes as Ukrainian forces are trying to launch a counterattack in several sections of the front line. It also happened just hours before Russia announced, as expected, the halt to a deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey that would allow the export of Ukrainian grain during the war.
Kiev did not initially admit responsibility for bombing the bridge last October, but Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar acknowledged earlier this month that Ukraine struck it to disrupt Russian logistics.
At the time of the attack, Moscow denounced it as an act of terrorism and vowed to step up its attacks on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. The Ukrainian power grid was targeted during the winter.
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, returned to the subject on Monday, calling the Ukrainian government a “terrorist organization”.
“We have to blow up their homes and the homes of their relatives, and search for and eliminate their accomplices,” he said.
The governor of the Russian Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said that the attack killed a couple from the region, while their daughter was taken to hospital for serious injuries.
Russian authorities said that the attack did not affect the sidewalks, but damaged the surface of part of one of the connections on the two roads. The damage appeared to be less severe than in the October attack, which took several months to repair.
Andrei Yusov, a spokesman for Ukraine’s Military Intelligence Department, declined to comment on Monday about the incident, but said: “The Russians are using the peninsula as a major logistical hub to move troops and assets deep into Ukraine’s territory. Logistical problems are additional complications for the occupiers.”
The Security Service of Ukraine published a revised version of a popular lullaby, edited to say that the bridge “went to sleep again”.
Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee said the strike was carried out by two Ukrainian drones.
Ukrainian officials were timid to take responsibility, as they had been in previous strikes. But in what seemed to be a tacit admission, Ukrainian Security Service Spokesman Artem Dygarenko said in a statement that his agency would reveal details of how the “explosion” was organized after Ukraine’s victory in the war.
The attack was the second major attack on the bridge since October, when truck bombs blew up two of its sections.
A video posted online by Crimea 24 news channel showed part of the bridge leaning and overhanging, but there was no indication that any part had fallen into the water.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khosnullin told reporters that the authorities were conducting a detailed examination of the damage before determining how long the repair would take.
The Kerch Bridge is a clear symbol of Moscow’s claims to Crimea and an essential land link to the peninsula, which Russia captured from Ukraine in 2014. The US$3.6 billion bridge is the longest in Europe and is crucial to enabling Russian military operations in southern Ukraine during the war that It lasted about 17 months.
Russia has expanded its presence in Crimea since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Since then there have been acts of sabotage and other attacks against Russian military and other facilities on the peninsula, with the Kremlin blaming Ukraine.
The attack on the bridge comes as Ukrainian forces are trying to launch a counterattack in several sections of the front line. It also happened just hours before Russia announced, as expected, the halt to a deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey that would allow the export of Ukrainian grain during the war.
Kiev did not initially admit responsibility for bombing the bridge last October, but Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar acknowledged earlier this month that Ukraine struck it to disrupt Russian logistics.
At the time of the attack, Moscow denounced it as an act of terrorism and vowed to step up its attacks on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. The Ukrainian power grid was targeted during the winter.
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, returned to the subject on Monday, calling the Ukrainian government a “terrorist organization”.
“We have to blow up their homes and the homes of their relatives, and search for and eliminate their accomplices,” he said.
The governor of the Russian Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said that the attack killed a couple from the region, while their daughter was taken to hospital for serious injuries.
Russian authorities said that the attack did not affect the sidewalks, but damaged the surface of part of one of the connections on the two roads. The damage appeared to be less severe than in the October attack, which took several months to repair.
Andrei Yusov, a spokesman for Ukraine’s Military Intelligence Department, declined to comment on Monday about the incident, but said: “The Russians are using the peninsula as a major logistical hub to move troops and assets deep into Ukraine’s territory. Logistical problems are additional complications for the occupiers.”
The Security Service of Ukraine published a revised version of a popular lullaby, edited to say that the bridge “went to sleep again”.
[ad_2]
