Russia reveals the damages of the explosion of the strategic

On Saturday, an explosion took place on a strategic bridge linking Russia and Crimea, which includes a road and a train track, toppled parts of the road, directing traffic in one direction, while officials deployed Ukrainians after the accident hilarious messages, but without a direct claim of responsibility.

Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, and President Vladimir Putin inaugurated the 19-kilometre bridge connecting it to Russia’s transport network in a grand celebration four years later.

The bridge now represents an important supply route for Russian forces that have taken control of most of the Kherson region in southern Ukraine.

The Russian National Anti-Terrorism Committee said on social media that the explosion occurred at 06:07 am local time (03:07 GMT) in a transport truck and set fire to 7 cars transporting fuel on a train bound for the peninsula.

It added that two sections of the land bridge had partially collapsed, but the waterway across the Kerch Strait, through which ships travel between the Black Sea and the Sea of ​​Azov, was not damaged.

The Russian governor of Crimea, Sergei Aksionov, said on social media that the land bridge was still intact in one direction, but traffic was suspended while the damage was assessed.

Later, the Russian Interfax news agency quoted the Emergencies Ministry as saying that the fire had been put out.

Mikhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the Ukrainian president, posted a message on Twitter in which he said this incident was just a beginning, but didn’t say that Ukrainian forces were responsible for the explosion.

“Everything that is illegal must be destroyed, everything that was stolen must be returned to Ukraine, and the Russians must be expelled from every region they occupied,” Podolyak added.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted by TASS news agency as saying that Putin had instructed the government to set up a government commission to investigate the incident.

“Ukrainian saboteurs managed to reach the Crimean bridge with their bloody hands,” Interfax news agency quoted Vladimir Konstantinov, head of the Crimean parliament, as saying.

He added: “Now they have something to be proud of… During their 23 years of economic activity, they built nothing worthy of attention in Crimea, but now they managed to damage the Russian bridge road”.

Konstantinov said the damage wasn’t severe and would be repaired quickly.

Oleksiy Danilov, head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, posted a video of the burning bridge on social media, along with a video of Marilyn Monroe singing “Happy Birthday, Mr. President,” in reference to Putin’s 70th birthday Friday.

For its part, the Ukrainian presidency indicated on Saturday that the explosion, which caused damage to the Crimean Bridge linking Russia with the peninsula, is the result of an internal struggle within the ruling circles in Moscow, pointing to “Russian involvement” in what happened.

“It is pertinent to note that the truck that exploded, according to all indications, entered the bridge from the Russian side,” Mikhailo Podolyak, an advisor to President Volodymyr Zelensky, said in a commentary published by the presidency.

Therefore, answers should be sought in Russia… All of this clearly points to Russian involvement”.