Escalation In Ukraine: Explosion Destroys Part Of Kerch Strait Bridge Linking Russia To Crimea: Ukraine Claims Credit

Large Explosion Destroys Part Of Key Bridge Linking Russia To Crimea; Zelensky: This Is "The Beginning"

TYLER DURDEN

Russian authorities said that an explosion involving a truck on Saturday caused a fire and destroyed a section of a bridge linking Russia and Crimea. The bridge is regarded as a key supply route for Russian troops in southern Ukraine.

The Crimean Bridge - also called Kerch Strait Bridge or Kerch Bridge - is a structure 19 kilometers (12 miles) in length that passes across the Kerch Strait and links southern Russia to the Crimean Peninsula. The Kerch Strait links the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.

The Epoch Times' Mimi Nguyen reports that a truck exploded on the bridge around 6 a.m. local time. Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee announced that the explosion caused a fire on the parallel rail section, where seven railway cars carrying fuel caught fire. The blast also caused a “partial collapse of two sections of the bridge.”

A spokesperson from the Russian Highways State Company (Avtodor) told the TASS news agency that the movement of vehicles across the Crimean Bridge has been temporarily suspended, adding at the time that “personnel of the Russian emergencies ministry and the road service are working on the site to contain the blaze.” The fire has since been extinguished.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was informed about the explosion and he ordered the creation of a government panel to deal with the emergency.

While the bridge undergoes repair, a ferry service will be provided later on Saturday. Crimea’s Head Sergey Aksyonov said on Telegram, per TASS: “A ferry service is ready to be launched, it will start operating later today. We will announce a timetable later.”

The Crimean Peninsula is key to sustaining Russia’s military operations in the south. If the bridge is made inoperable, it would make it significantly more challenging to ferry supplies to the peninsula. While Russia seized the areas north of Crimea early during the invasion and built a land corridor to it along the Sea of Azov, Ukraine is pressing a counteroffensive to reclaim them.

The explosion on the Crimean Bridge took place hours after multiple explosions early Saturday hit the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, which triggered a series of secondary explosions. The city’s mayor, Ihor Terekhov, said that the series of explosions were due to missile strikes aimed at the center of the city, which caused fires at one of Kharkiv’s medical institutions, as well as a nonresidential building. No reports of casualties were noted.

While no one has yet to explicitly claim public responsibility for the attack, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s aide, Mikhail Podoliak, posted on Twitter saying the explosion is “the beginning.”

“Crimea, the bridge, the beginning. Everything illegal must be destroyed, everything stolen must be returned to Ukraine, everything occupied by Russia must be expelled,” he wrote in English.

Podoliak previously in August threatened the bridge, telling The Guardian that the bridge is “an illegal construction and the main gateway to supply the Russian army in Crimea” and that “such objects should be destroyed.”

The Crimean Bridge, a $3.69 billion (230 billion rubles) project, was constructed following the annexation of Crimea. Russia opened the first part of the span to car traffic in May 2018. The parallel bridge for rail traffic opened the following year. Before the bridge’s existence, the Crimean Peninsula could only be reached from Russia by sea or air.

CRIMEA BRIDGE ATTACKED: Road collapse into water, Fuel Train ON FIRE!

H Turner

The Crimea Bridge, connecting mainland Russia with Crimea, has been attacked by Ukraine!

The magnificent structure has three sections of roadway now collapsed into the sea, and a train on the adjacent railroad track portion of the bridge, is on fire.

Image from the passenger vehicle roadway of the bridge itself:

UKRAINE CLAIMS CREDIT FOR ATTACK

Ukraine admits responsibility for the terrorist attack on the Crimean bridge.

Zelensky's office advisor Podolyak has admitted Ukraine's responsibility for the terrorist attack on the Crimean bridge.

"Crimea, the bridge, the beginning. Everything illegal must be destroyed, everything stolen must be returned to Ukraine, everything occupied by Russia must be destroyed," Podolyak said. 

FEROCIOUS REACTION IN RUSSIA

"This is no longer just a challenge, this is a declaration of war without rules" - State Duma deputy Morozov about the terrorist attack on the Crimean bridge.

Russian Senator Alexander Bashkin says Moscow will answer Crimean Bridge attack with a “possibly asymmetric response.” 

Deputy Speaker of the State Duma: The terrorist act that targeted the Crimean bridge was a declaration of war.

According to preliminary data, three people were killed as a result of an explosion on the Crimean Bridge, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation reports. Passengers of a car driving next to an exploding truck were killed, the bodies of a man and a woman were lifted out of the water.

According to the investigation, the owner of the truck blown up on the Crimean Bridge is a resident of the Krasnodar Territory.

Investigative actions have been launched at his place of residence

At this hour, the rail car fires on the railroad track span of the bridge, are being doused by helicopters dumping water from fire-fighting buckets: