Ukraine says an explosion that temporarily shut a bridge which is a key symbol of Russian occupation is just “the beginning”, but has stopped short of claiming responsibility.
The bridge linking Russia to the annexed region of Crimea is the longest in Europe and a key supply route for Moscow’s war effort.
The blast occurred a day after Vladimir Putin’s 70th birthday and coincided with the naming of Air Force General Sergei Surovikin to take overall charge of the invasion effort.
A spokesman for President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed that Ukraine would continue to expel and destory everything Russian as it fights to oust the invaders.
“Crimea, the bridge, the beginning,” said Mykhailo Podolyak.
“Everything illegal must be destroyed, everything stolen must be returned to Ukraine, everything occupied by Russia must be expelled.
“Two notorious symbols of Russian power in Ukrainian Crimea have gone down,” it tweeted. “What’s next in line?”
The Ukrainian government itself simply tweeted: “Sick burn.”
A powerful explosion seriously damaged Russia’s road-and-rail bridge to Crimea over the Kerch Strait.
Russian officials said three people were killed, probably the occupants of a car travelling near a truck that blew up.
📽️The Kerch bridge between Crimea and mainland Russia has been partially destroyed.
Footage from the scene has shown a train of oil tanker wagons ablaze, and one lane of the parallel road bridge collapsed into the seahttps://t.co/Z5C2sDu3eE pic.twitter.com/VImzRPonyM
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) October 8, 2022
Despite the damage, limited road traffic resumed about 10 hours after the blast on Saturday and the Transport Ministry said on Saturday rail traffic could continue.
Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and the 19km Crimean Bridge linking it to Russia’s transport network was opened with great fanfare four years later by President Vladimir Putin.
It now represents a major artery for the Russian forces who have taken control of most of southern Ukraine’s Kherson region, and for the naval port of Sevastopol, whose governor told locals: “Keep calm. Don’t panic.”
It was not yet clear if the blast was a deliberate attack but the damage to such high-profile infrastructure came at a time when Russia has suffered several battlefield defeats and could further cloud the Kremlin’s messages of reassurance to its public that the conflict is going to plan.
The head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, Oleksiy Danilov, posted a video of the burning bridge on social media on Saturday alongside a video of Marilyn Monroe singing “Happy birthday, Mr President”.
Доброго ранку, Україно! 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/UQMI6LheSR
— Oleksiy Danilov (@OleksiyDanilov) October 8, 2022
The change follows the reported sacking earlier this week of the commanders of two of Russia’s five military regions, as its forces have suffered a series of dramatic reverses in northeastern and southern Ukraine in recent weeks.
The ministry did not say who, if anyone, Surovikin was replacing.
Surovikin, 55, has led Russia’s Air and Space Forces since 2017.
According to the ministry’s website, he commanded a guards division stationed in Chechnya in 2004, during Russia’s war against Islamist rebels, and was awarded a medal for his service in Syria in 2017.
Since the start of the invasion on February 24, Ukrainian officials have made regular allusions to their desire to destroy the bridge, seen in Ukraine as a symbol of Russia’s occupation of Crimea.
Ukraine’s postal service said on Saturday it would print a special stamp to commemorate the blast.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said in a statement that its forces in southern Ukraine could be “fully supplied” through existing land and sea routes.
The Transport Ministry said road traffic for light vehicles and buses had resumed in alternating directions on the intact half of the roadway.
Goods vehicles were being referred to a ferry service.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Ukraine’s reaction to the destruction of civilian infrastructure “testifies to its terrorist nature”.
The Russian National Anti-Terrorism Committee said a freight truck had blown up on the bridge’s roadway at 6.07am, causing seven fuel tanker wagons to catch fire on a train heading for the peninsula on the bridge’s upper level.
It said two spans of road bridge had partially collapsed but that the arch spanning the channel through which ships travel between the Black Sea and Azov Sea was not damaged.
Images posted by the Russian Investigative Committee showed one half of the roadway blown away and the other half still attached.
Others taken from a distance showed thick smoke pouring from part of the bridge.
-with AAP
