Recent reports state that the bridge connecting Crimea and mainland Russia was savagely attacked, leaving one person injured and two people dead. In a statement, the governor of Crimea claimed that following the attack, traffic on this bridge had been suspended. He made no mention of which group was in charge or who it was.
The attack on the bridge, one of the most important supply routes in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, was blamed on Ukrainian troops by the leader of the Crimean Congress, Vladimir Konstantinov, during a news conference. Konstantinov added that the “terrorist regime in Ukraine” gave the order to demolish the bridge without providing any supporting documentation.
According to Russian state media, a representative of the health ministry in the Krasnodar area recognized the attack survivor as the daughter of one of the victims. Because Krasnodar is situated in the eastern section of the bridge, the TASS news agency reported that residents there were terrified. It further stated that locals who live close to the scene called the police early that morning after hearing “heavy explosions.”
Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Belgorod, stated on his Telegram channel that the girl who survived had suffered terrible injuries. He added that “the ones who attacked the bridge” were Ukrainian military forces. Belgorod residents, he continued, are “in distress.”
Despite the bridge’s extensive damage, no pieces fell into the river, according to the Crimea 24 news outlet. It further mentioned that the bridge was reopened seven hours later after local authorities were able to repair some of the major parts of the damaged infrastructure.
In October 2022, when a truck bomb exploded, Ukrainian troops had already attacked the bridge, resulting in the destruction of a sizeable portion of the building. Political observers at the time noted that this posed a serious challenge for Russian President Vladimir Putin because it was the bridge necessary to keep the Russian troops stationed in Crimea.
