A helicopter drops water to extinguish the fire on the Kerch bridge in Crimea on October 8. (Stringer/Archyde.com)
In a major blow to Russia, at least one explosion severely damaged the Kerch bridge connecting the Crimean peninsula, annexed in 2014, with the Russian Federation.
The explosion early Saturday caused parts of Europe’s longest bridge to collapse, according to images and video from the scene.
The exact cause of the explosion is unclear. Russian officials said a fuel truck was blown up, but two sections of the road junction heading to Crimea appear to have collapsed. A subsequent fire engulfed a train of fuel trucks on a separate part of the bridge.
Images of the Kerch bridge posted on social media appear to show that a portion of the vehicle roadway and the railway bridge had fallen into the waters below it. Flames could be seen burning from the train cars above.
three dead: Russia’s Investigative Committee says preliminary information indicates three people were killed in the blast.
Why is the bridge important? The bridge crosses the Kerch Strait, which connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Azov, where the main Ukrainian ports, including Mariupol, are located. For Russia, the bridge symbolizes the physical “reunification” of Crimea with the Russian mainland. The bridge carries much of Crimea’s necessities, such as fuel and goods, and has been regularly used to supply weapons and fuel to Russian forces.
The consequences: Major transport links between mainland Russia and the annexed Crimean peninsula, including buses and trains, have been suspended following an explosion at the Kerch bridge. Weather conditions in the Kerch Strait are hampering Russia’s plans to use ferries to reach Crimea from Krasnodar, according to Russian state media.
What has Ukraine said? Ukrainian officials began responding to the fire without directly acknowledging that Ukraine was responsible for the explosion. Among the responses, the Ukrainian Armed Forces Navy posted on Facebook: “Air Defense of the Russian Federation, are you sleeping?”, along with a video showing a section of the bridge road that had been completely destroyed.
In a short post on its official Twitter account, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry reacted to the blast, saying: “The guided missile cruiser Moskva and the Kerch Bridge, two notorious symbols of Russian power in Ukrainian Crimea, have sunk. What’s next in line, Russians?
What is Russia’s response? Russian President Vladimir Putin immediately ordered a “government commission” to examine the “emergency” of the Kerch bridge in Crimea, Russian state media TASS reported, adding that the heads of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the Ministry of Transport of Russia are now at the scene of the incident.
Russian authorities suggest that the explosion was caused by a truck exploding on the highway bridge.
Russian investigative committee spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko said the committee “has opened a criminal case on the Crimean bridge incident. According to preliminary information, this morning a truck exploded on the car part of the Crimean bridge from the Taman Peninsula [los carriles hacia el oeste del puente]which caused the ignition of seven fuel tanks of a train traveling towards the Crimean peninsula”.
“As a result, two car lanes of the bridge partially collapsed.”
The Committee also expanded on its earlier statement that a truck had exploded on the bridge.
According to the Russian Investigative Committee, the owner of the truck is a resident of Krasnodar Krai and investigative actions have been launched at his place of residence. The vehicle’s circulation route and relevant documentation are being studied, the committee added.
CNN cannot verify the Russian explanation for the explosion.