After a detonation incapacitated portions of the Kerch Bridge, which connects occupied Crimea to the Russian mainland, Vladimir Putin ordered his top security advisers to devise a plan to defend the bridge on Monday.
Monday morning's apparent attack was labeled a "terrorist act" by the Russian president, who pledged "appropriate retaliation" against Kyiv.
Ukraine Claims Responsibility of the Crimea Bridge Attack
Upon confirmation that it was a Ukrainian attack, the predawn incursion would be the second effective assault on the symbolic structure Putin opened after ordering the illegal annexation of Crimea. Russian-installed authorities on the peninsula reported that two sea drones launched by Ukrainian forces exploded beneath the structure, killing two people and injuring a third.
Andrii Yusov, the spokesman for Ukraine's military intelligence, stated that the country would not remark on any of its strikes, retaining operational secrecy regarding attacks on Russian targets deep behind enemy lines.
Social media footage appeared to show significant damage to both sides of a section of the 12-mile bridge. The longest European bridge crossing was praised as an engineering triumph and a symbol of Moscow's dominion over Crimea, as per Telegraph.
Since then, it has become a crucial logistical route for supplying Russian forces in southern Ukraine. The most significant destruction appeared to have occurred on a segment of the road leading to the Russian mainland, which buckled and sank into the sea.
Crime Bridge Shuts Down
Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian-appointed leader of Crimea, stated that the road and rail bridge had been shut down due to an "emergency." However, trains began crossing the Kerch Strait bridge shortly after 9 a.m. local time, suggesting that Russia would still be able to supply its forces in southern Ukraine.
Vladimir Rogov, the regional administrator for Zaporizhzhia appointed by Moscow, stated that the first attack occurred at 3:04 a.m. local time on Monday, followed by the second at 3:20 a.m. "One span collapsed," he wrote on the Telegram messaging application, adding that a second was damaged.
CNN was informed by a source within the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) that this attack was a coordinated effort between the SBU and Ukraine's naval forces. The source spoke under the condition of anonymity because they lacked permission to speak on the record.
The minister for the digital transformation of Ukraine later stated that naval drones impacted the bridge. According to the Telegram channel Grey Zone, which supports the Wagner mercenary group headed by Yevgeny Prigozhin, two attacks were carried out around 3 a.m. local time on Monday (8 p.m. ET on Sunday), damaging a portion of the bridge.
The Crimean Bridge's carriageway has been damaged, the Russian Ministry of Transport said via Telegram. The bridge's spans are the distances between the piers. Images depicted the partial collapse of a segment of the bridge's roadway, which also transports railroad tracks.
Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin stated that, according to preliminary assessments, the explosion did not impair the bridge's supports. Later, he stated that bridge traffic would not recommence for nearly two months, adding that "ferries are accessible for civilian and commercial transportation" and that the railway bridge remained operational.
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