A car bomb exploded on the Crimean bridge, causing a major fire on the main crossing between the Ukrainian peninsula, which is annexed by Moscow, and the Russian mainland, according to Russian news agencies, citing Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee.
The bridge, which was built at a huge cost on the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin, is used to transport military equipment for Russian forces fighting in Ukraine.
The committee announced: “Today at 06:07 (0307 GMT) a car bomb exploded (…) on the road section of the Korem Bridge, which led to the fire of seven railway tanker locomotives that were headed to Crimea.” They were moving. “
The committee said the explosion damaged two lanes of the bridge’s roads, but the arch was not damaged. A Kremlin spokesman told RIA Novosti that Putin had ordered the formation of a state commission to reveal the facts.
Vladimir Konstantinov, head of Crimea’s council – the local Russian-appointed parliament – blamed “Ukrainian saboteurs” for the bombing.
CNN said the incident was a “huge blow to Russia.”
Pictures published on the Kerch bridge on social networks show that a part of the car road and the railway bridge are under water. Flames were seen from the railway cars above.
The Crimean Bridge, also called “Kerch” in reference to the strait that separates the Ukrainian territory of Crimea from Russian territory, was opened in 2018 after the occupation of the region in 2014.
In May 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin inaugurated the huge bridge connecting Crimea to Russia in an orange truck. And after being intended for cars, it later became a dedicated train track.
Spanning more than 19 kilometers, the Kerch Bridge is a massive and costly project that took two years to build to connect Russia to Crimea and aims to reduce the peninsula’s isolation four years after its annexation, a process that Ukraine It describes “illegal”.
According to the report of RIA Russia, the height of this bridge, which passes through the island of Tuzla, is 35 meters in its central arch, and its maximum speed will be 120 kilometers per hour. news agency
The construction cost of this bridge was 228.3 billion rubles (about 7.5 billion dollars). Last month, following several explosions at Russian military bases, Ukraine threatened to dismantle the expensive Kerch bridge built by Moscow to connect Russia to Crimea.
At that time, the adviser to the President of Ukraine, Mykhailo Podoliak, wrote in Telegram: “This bridge is an illegal structure, and Ukraine did not give permission to build it. It harms the environment of the peninsula and therefore it must be dismantled. No matter how: On purpose. Or not.”
Crimea is a popular holiday destination for Russians to enjoy its beaches and mountains, and Russian tourists are one of the main sources of income for the Black Sea peninsula.
This large bridge formed a major loop for the transportation of military equipment for Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine, especially in the south, as well as the transfer of troops there.
The disconnection of the bridge will cut off supplies to Russian military bases in Crimea, which the country uses in its wars in Ukraine.
Russia has kept the bridge safe despite the war in Ukraine, but the peninsula, which remained secure months after the invasion, was recently attacked.
In August, an attack on an ammunition depot at a military post near the village of Zhankoy in northern Crimea, which Moscow said was the result of “sabotage”.
In the same month, Moscow reported a munitions explosion at a military airbase in Crimea that killed one person and wounded several others.
Ukraine has not officially claimed the invasion of the Crimean peninsula, but officials have repeatedly made comments that lead to suspicions that Ukrainian forces may have been involved.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said in previous statements that Kyiv will “never” give up its intention to take back Crimea from Russia.
The damage to the railway, in particular, would put Russian forces in the south of a railway supply line between Krasnodar and Melitopol within range of the Ukrainian offensive, the Guardian newspaper said.
Source: Lebanon Debate
