Watch: Big explosion on only bridge connecting Crimea with Russia

 Watch: Big explosion on only bridge connecting Crimea with Russia

"Today at 6:07 a.m. (0307 GMT) on the road traffic side of the Crimea Bridge ... a car bomb exploded, setting fire to seven oil tankers transported by rail into Crimea," Russian news agencies reported. Quoted - Terrorism committee is saying.@

Moscow:

Moscow announced@@@@@ on Saturday that a truck explosion ignited a major fire and severely damaged the vital Kerch Bridge - built as Russia's only land link with Crimea - and without immediately blaming Ukraine. Vowed to find the culprits.

Russia said the explosion set fire to seven oil tankers carried by the train and collapsed two car lanes of the massive road and rail structure.

Dramatic social media footage showed the bridge on fire and parts submerged in water.

"Today at 6:07 a(0307 GMT) on the road traffic side of the Crimea Bridge ... a car bomb exploded, setting fire to seven oil tankers transported by rail into Crimea," Russian news agencies reported. Quoted - Terrorism committee is saying.


The bridge, personally inaugurated by President Vladimir Putin in 2018, is an important transport link for carrying military equipment to Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine.

This was extremely important to the Kremlin and Moscow had kept the bridge crossing safe despite the fighting.

Ukraine's presidential adviser, Mykhailo Podolik, had previously posted a photo of a long stretch of bridge half-submerged on Twitter.


Crimea, the bridge, the beginning," he wrote. "Everything illegal must be destroyed, everything stolen must be returned to Ukraine, everything that is occupied by Russia must be expelled."

The Ukrainian Post Office announced that it was preparing to print stamps showing "the Crimean Bridge - or more accurately, what are its remains".


Russian news agencies reported that a Kremlin spokesman said Putin had ordered a commission to investigate the blast.

Russia's powerful investigative committee launched a criminal investigation into the blast and sent detectives to the scene.

Said that a truck exploded "on the automobile side of the Crimea Bridge from the side of the Taman Peninsula".

It "ignited seven fuel tanks on a train headed for the Crimean peninsula. As a result, two lanes partially collapsed."

The authorities in Moscow stopped blaming Kyiv.
But an official in the Crimea, established in Russia, pointed a finger at the "Ukrainian barbarians". Another in the neighboring Kherson region said repairs "could take two months".

And Russia's foreign ministry spokeswoman said Kyiv's response to the blasts showed its "terrorist nature".




'Unexplained terrorist war'

"There is an undeniable terrorist war against us," Oleg Morozov, deputy of the Russian ruling party, told the RIA Novosti news agency.

"If we remain silent and do not respond adequately, such attacks will multiply manifold," he said.

There have been several explosions at Russian military installations in the Crimean peninsula.

If it is established that Ukraine was behind the latest eruption, alarm bells may sound with a bridge so far from the front line.

The explosions follow Ukraine's recent territorial gains of power in the east and south, which undermined the Kremlin's claim that it occupied Donetsk, neighboring Lugansk and the southern regions of Zaporizhzhya and Kherson.

Moscow's established head of the peninsula, Sergei Aksyonov, called on Crimea to "remain calm" as authorities downplayed the explosions.

"I appeal to all to keep quiet and not spread fake information," he said on Telegram. "The situation is being controlled, professionals are working on the ground."

He said rail connectivity to Russia had been halted and added that authorities had set up food and heating points to help stranded drivers.

Authorities also tried to allay fears of food and fuel shortages in Crimea, which has been entirely dependent on the Russian mainland since Moscow took over it in 2014.

Russia's Ministry of Transport said a ferry service had been launched. Its energy ministry told agencies that the peninsula is fully fueled.

The blast happened a day after President Vladimir Putin's 70th birthday.

some russian benefits

The Russian military said on Friday that they have seized ground in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk, their first claim of new gains since Kyiv's counter-offensive intensified Moscow's war effort.

Separatist forces in the war-torn Donetsk region said they had retaken a series of villages near the Ukrainian-controlled industrial city of Bakhmut, which has been under Russian shelling for weeks.

The Donetsk region, which has been partially controlled for years by Kremlin-backed separatists, is a significant reward for the Russian military, which sent troops to Ukraine in February.

But Kyiv's forces have been pushing back against Russian troops on the front lines in the south and east, including parts of Donetsk, in recent weeks.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said late Friday that his army had occupied some 2,500 square kilometers (965 sq mi) in a counter-offensive that began late last month.