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09-10-2022
MOSCOW: A key bridge linking the Crimean peninsula with mainland Russia has been partially destroyed in a truck explosion, Russian media reported, putting at risk a key supply route for Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine.
The speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament, the Duma, called it “an act of war” as the country’s investigative committee said on Saturday it had “initiated a criminal case in connection with the incident on the Crimean bridge,” adding that “a truck was blown up”.
“According to preliminary information, this morning on the automobile part of the Crimean bridge from the side of the Taman Peninsula, a truck was blown up, which caused seven fuel tanks to ignite on a train heading towards the Crimea peninsula,” the committee said.
“As a result, two lanes partially collapsed.”
Three people have been found dead so far as the result of the truck explosion, Russia’s Investigative Committee said.
“They are believed to be passengers of a car that was near the truck that exploded. The bodies of two victims, a man and a woman, have already been recovered from the water and their identities are being established,” the committee said in a statement.
The investigators have also established the details of the truck and its owner, registered in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region, and begun searching his place of residence, it added.
Officials said Russian President Vladimir Putin was informed about the explosion and had ordered the creation of a government panel to deal with the emergency.
In a decree issued hours after the blast, Putin said the Federal Security Service (FSB) would be responsible for strengthening security for the bridge, as well as the infrastructure supplying electricity and natural gas to the peninsula, according to Interfax news agency.
Ukrainian officials celebrated the incident, but did not claim responsibility, with the head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, Oleksiy Danilov, posting a video of the burning bridge on social media alongside a video of Marilyn Monroe singing “Happy birthday, Mr President”, a reference to Putin’s 70th birthday on Friday.
Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak, meanwhile, suggested late Saturday that Moscow was involved in the blast.
“It is worth noting that the truck that detonated, according to all indications, entered the bridge from the Russian side. So the answers should be sought in Russia,” he said said in comments released by the presidency.
‘A big blow’ to the Russians
Meanwhile, Alexandre Vautravers, the editor-in-chief of Swiss Military Review, cast doubt that a truck was indeed solely behind the explosion, saying a vehicle carrying explosives “is probably not going to produce this much damage” without other explosives being planted on the bridge.
“I think we need to take with a grain of salt the story that is being told to us about how this truck arrived there and all of a sudden produced all of this damage,” he told media.
“The most realistic are two explanations: One would be a laser guided bomb of at least 125 kilos and the other possibility would be sabotage from Special Forces or from partisans and I think this is something to explore.”
Mohamad Vall, reporting from Moscow, said the explosion represented a “big blow” to the Russians.
“Russians are still trying to make sense of what happened,” Vall said, adding that the bridge is a key supply line between mainland Russia and Crimea. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
