Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said today that Russia must destroy the top leadership of what he called "terrorist formations" after the Crimean bridge attack.
Russia said a couple was killed and their daughter injured in the incident, which it blamed on Ukrainian special forces.
The Ukrainian military initially hinted that Russia was behind the attack, but Ukrainian media reported that Ukrainian security services attacked the bridge using remote-controlled unmanned surface vessels.
The blow received by the Kerch bridge is quite serious, as admitted by B. Putin and other Russian Officials. According to the data so far, the bridge was hit by underwater autonomous drones-robots of British manufacture.
Part of the bridge has collapsed. The Russians say at least two explosions went off under the bridge at 3:04 a.m. and 3:20 a.m. local time.
In fact, the Russian Ministry of Transport and Communications said that the 155th pillar of the bridge on the Crimean side has been damaged.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Kushnulin said the bridge would be fully repaired by November 1.
He did not admit that any piers of the bridge were damaged in the attack, but said that a section of the roadway was completely destroyed and would have to be built from scratch.
He added that road traffic will resume in one direction of the road by September 15, with road traffic in both directions restored by November 1.
New Russian information indicates that one lane of the bridge was completely destroyed and will be replaced with a new one, the second has been displaced by 70% and will probably be restored. In addition, one railway line of the bridge was damaged.
The British have opened the "window of opportunity" for the Ukrainians to launch a massive attack on Crimea in the next two months. It remains to be seen if they will succeed. It is also clear that yesterday Ukrainians and British were looking for the vulnerable points of the Russian defense on the bridge of Kerch.
The attack on the Crimean bridge was carried out with the help of the British REMUS 600 autonomous underwater robot with an additional load of explosives, Russian and Ukrainian sources say.
Until today it was known that the British delivered to Kiev the REMUS 100, but not the more advanced REMUS 600.
This drone is easily controlled via a laptop and was launched from a civilian vessel in the Black Sea.
The robot can move underwater at a depth of up to 600 meters, has a sailing duration of about 70 hours at a speed of up to 5 knots. With increased transport capacity it can cover 286 nautical miles, almost 500 km.
"The British intelligence service again played a role in the escalation of the war in Ukraine, and new underwater drones have shown their effectiveness," the same Russian sources note.
A few hours before the attack on the bridge, the Sentinel-2 L1C satellite recorded 4 objects moving at high speed at a distance of 75 km southeast of Fidonisi towards the Crimean coast.
These could hit the Crimean bridge or be the carriers of the drones.
Putin: "The attack on the Crimean bridge is a terrorist act - Russia will respond"
Vladimir Putin today called for increased security measures at the Crimean bridge, which was badly damaged for the second time by a Ukrainian attack, with the Russian president denouncing a "terrorist act" carried out by Ukraine, saying Russia would answer.
"As this is the second terrorist attack on the Crimean bridge, I expect concrete proposals to improve the security of this important and strategically important transport infrastructure," Putin said at a televised government meeting.
"Of course there will be a response from Russia. The Ministry of Defense is preparing the appropriate proposals," Putin stressed, saying that "what happened is a new act of terrorism by the Kiev regime."
Speaking at this meeting of national and regional officials to assess the consequences of the attack, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Kushnulin said the bridge would be fully repaired by November 1.
He pointed out that the bridge's pillars were not damaged by the attack, but that a section of the road was completely destroyed and will have to be built from scratch.
He added that road traffic will resume in one direction of the road by September 15, with road traffic in both directions restored by November 1. The railway bridge was not damaged in the attack.
At the end of the meeting, Putin called the attack a brutal and senseless act, as he said the bridge had not been used for months to supply Russian forces fighting in Ukraine.
Kiev has not officially claimed responsibility for the attack, but Ukrainian media reported that Ukrainian intelligence services launched the attack on the Crimean bridge by deploying naval drones.
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