(Moscow) At least three people were killed in the explosion which damaged the Crimean bridge linking Russia to this annexed Ukrainian peninsula, announced Russian investigators, who claim to have identified the driver of the bombed truck.
Posted at 7:18 a.m.
“According to preliminary data, three people were killed as a result of the accident. They are probably the passengers of a car that was near the truck when it exploded,” the Russian Investigative Committee said in a statement.
Footage circulating online from the bridge shows the railway line in flames for tens of meters and a collapsed section of road.
PHOTO AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
This bridge, built at great expense on the orders of Vladimir Putin to connect the annexed peninsula to Russian territory, is used in particular to transport military equipment from the Russian army fighting in Ukraine.
If Ukraine is behind the fire and explosion on the Crimean Bridge, the fact that such crucial infrastructure so far from the front could be damaged by Ukrainian forces would be a snub for Moscow.
Especially since Russia has had a series of military setbacks since the beginning of September, its troops being forced to retreat both in the northeast and in the south of the country, in particular the region of Kherson, bordering Crimea, whose M Putin claims annexation.
“Today at 6:07 a.m. on the road part of the Crimean Bridge […] the explosion of a car bomb took place, which caused the fire of seven railway tanks which were going to Crimea”, indicated the committee, quoted by the Russian agencies.
The Kremlin spokesman told the Ria Novosti agency that Vladimir Putin had ordered the formation of a government commission to establish the facts.
According to the Anti-Terrorism Committee, two road lanes are damaged, but the arch of the bridge is not affected.
Rail and road traffic have been halted, and ferries have been set up to allow the crossing, according to Russian agencies.
Ukrainian vandals
Russia’s Investigative Committee, the country’s main investigative body, has promised to identify “all persons connected with this crime” and open a criminal investigation.
The head of the Crimean assembly, the regional parliament installed by Russia, Vladimir Konstantinov denounced a coup by “Ukrainian vandals”.
Ukraine did not comment, but Ukrainian presidential chief of staff Andriy Iermak tweeted an emoji showing a bridge in clouds of smoke.
“Everything illegal must be destroyed, everything stolen must be returned to Ukraine,” Mikhailo Podoliak, another adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky, wrote on Twitter.
This bridge is essential for the transport of people and goods to the peninsula, but also for the troops deployed in Ukraine. Inaugurated in 2018, the bridge spans the Kerch Strait, becoming the symbol of the 2014 annexation.
PHOTO REUTERS
An official of the Russian occupation in the Ukrainian region of Kherson, neighboring Crimea, Kirill Stremoussov published on his Telegram account a video surveillance of the bridge showing a violent explosion. According to him, the repairs could take “two months”.
Russia has always maintained that the bridge is safe despite fighting in Ukraine, but has in the past threatened Kyiv with reprisals if Ukrainian forces were to attack this or other infrastructure in Crimea.
Russian MP Oleg Morozov, quoted by the Ria Novosti agency, called on Saturday for an “adequate” response. “Otherwise, this type of terrorist attacks will multiply,” he said.
Several explosions have taken place in recent months at Russian military installations on the peninsula, probably the result of Ukrainian operations, such as when the Jankoy military base was devastated in August by the explosion of an ammunition depot, causing an exodus of tourists from the region.
Serial failures
The Russian authorities have always been stingy with explanations concerning Djankoy and other similar incidents at arms depots elsewhere in Russia but close to the Ukrainian border.
At Djankoï, Moscow had finally admitted “sabotage”, and the Ukrainian army admitted its responsibility weeks later.
Since early September, Russian forces have been forced to retreat at many points on the front. In particular, they were forced to flee the region of Kharkiv (north-east) and to retreat to that of Kherson.
Faced with these setbacks in the face of a galvanized Ukrainian army strong in Western arms supplies, President Putin decreed at the end of September the mobilization of hundreds of thousands of reservists, civilians therefore, to reverse the trend.
He also decreed the annexation of four Ukrainian regions although Moscow only partially controls them.
Ukraine has claimed the recovery of thousands of square kilometers since the beginning of September and the launch of its counter-offensive at several points on the front.
The only battlefield where Moscow currently has the advantage is near the city of Bakhmout, in the eastern Donetsk region, which Russian forces have been trying to take since August.
The failures of recent weeks are such that even in the state media the army and its command are the target of criticism from prominent figures.