2023-08-12 12:02:44
There have been renewed explosions at the Kerch Bridge between mainland Russia and Crimea, which was illegally annexed from Ukraine by the Black Sea. The Russian air defense shot down two enemy missiles on Saturday afternoon, Moscow’s governor of the peninsula, Sergey Aksyonov, said on Telegram. “The Crimean bridge is not damaged,” he wrote. This could not initially be checked independently.
Car traffic over the 19-kilometer structure has been temporarily suspended. In the meantime, photos and videos have been published on social networks showing high columns of smoke on the bridge, which is strategically important for Russia. Neighbors reported explosion noises.
According to an adviser to Aksyonov, smoke was artificially generated by Russian special forces to defend the bridge. Traffic over the connection was interrupted, but would be resumed “soon”.
Opened personally by President Vladimir Putin in 2014, the bridge consists of two parallel sections – one for road, another for rail. Among other things, military equipment for the Russian army fighting in Ukraine is transported across the Crimean Bridge.
The bridge over the Kerch Strait has been attacked several times by Ukraine in recent months. An attack in July had caused severe damage to the street portion of the structure. President Putin then ordered increased security measures for the bridge.
Crimea itself is also a regular target of Ukrainian attacks. Only on Saturday morning did the Russian Defense Ministry report that 20 drones had been shot down over Crimea.
In the past few days, drone attacks have also increased on Russian territory. The Ministry of Defense announced on Friday that it had shot down a drone heading for the capital Moscow. The Ukrainian drone was destroyed over a Moscow suburb, there were no casualties or damage.
There was initially no official reaction from Kiev to the latest attack.
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