Two dead and one injured in “attack” on bridge from Crimea to Russia | world news

The Ukrainian Security Service has reportedly claimed responsibility for an attack that damaged the main bridge connecting Crimea and mainland Russia.

Officials closed the 12-mile (19 km) bridge earlier this morning following an “emergency”.

According to the Krasnodar Territory Ministry of Health, at the eastern end of the Kerch Bridge, two people died in an incident on the structure, and their daughter was also injured.

Sources told the Russian BBC and Ukrainian news site censor.net that the attack was carried out as a “special operation” by Ukraine’s naval forces and security service.

Independently of this, the Russian-appointed chairman of the Crimean parliament, Vladimir Konstantinov, also said that Ukraine was responsible and blamed it on the “terrorist regime in Kiev”.

The incident immediately sparked speculation on messaging app Telegram. Pro-Kremlin broadcaster Readovka hinted that “a missile attack was carried out on the Crimean bridge, which caused the 145th pier to collapse”.

There is no confirmation that any of the bridge’s 600 piers have collapsed, and Russia’s Transport Ministry said only the road surface was affected.

Video believed to have been taken this morning shows a large gap between sections of road.

Governor Sergei Aksyonov said he expects rail traffic to resume on the bridge within hours, but there are no such assurances for road traffic.

He wrote on Telegram: “There was an emergency in the area of ​​​​the 145th support unit.” [Russian side of the bridge].

“Measures are being taken to restore the situation.” “I ask residents and guests of the peninsula to refrain from driving across the Crimean Bridge and to choose an alternative land route through new regions for safety reasons.”

A key supply route for the war in Ukraine, the Kerch Bridge provides rail and road links to the rest of Russia through the region annexed in 2014.

Opened in 2018, it is considered Vladimir Putin’s flagship infrastructure project and a major feat of engineering.

It was damaged by a truck bomb on the roadway in October and only fully reopened in February.

Some questions remain about who carried out last year’s attack and how, but the Ukrainian government celebrated it and the country’s Post Office issued a postage stamp commemorating the event.

Oleksiy Danilov, who heads Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, released a video of Marilyn Monroe singing “Happy Birthday, Mr President,” along with a clip of the explosion, which occurred a day after Putin’s 70th birthday.

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