A large fire on the only crossing between the occupied Crimean peninsula and Russia was caused by a lorry explosion, Russian officials say, reports the BBC.
A blast on the road section led to oil tankers on the rail section catching fire, before the road collapsed.
Crimea was annexed in 2014 by Russia, which now uses the bridge to move military equipment into Ukraine.
The official Twitter account of the Ukraine government responded to the fire by tweeting: “Sick burn.”
An adviser to Ukraine’s President Zelensky, Mykhailo Podolyak, called the damage a “beginning” – but did not directly claim Ukrainian responsibility.
“Everything illegal must be destroyed, everything stolen must be returned to Ukraine, everything occupied by Russia must be expelled,” he tweeted.
Meanwhile, the Ukraine defense ministry compared the bridge explosion to the sinking of Russia’s Moskva missile cruiser in April.
“Two notorious symbols of Russian power in Ukrainian Crimea have gone down,” it tweeted. “What’s next in line?”
Opened by President Putin in 2018, it was meant to symbolize that Crimea was Russian.
The bridge is particularly hated by Ukrainians. Social media in Ukraine erupted in celebration on seeing the fire – one day after Russian President Vladimir Putin turned 70.
Road and rail traffic across the bridge has been suspended. Local authorities in Crimea say they will organize a ferry service between the Russian mainland and the peninsula.
Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee (NAC) said: “At 06:07 Moscow time today [03:07 GMT], an explosion was set off at a cargo vehicle on the motorway part of the Crimean bridge on the side of the Taman peninsula, which set fire to seven fuel tanks of a train that was en route to the Crimean peninsula.
“Two motorway sections of the bridge partially collapsed.”
Crimean parliamentary speaker Vladimir Konstantinov blamed the explosion on “Ukrainian vandals, who have finally managed to reach their bloody hands to the Crimean bridge”.
He added the damage to the bridge would be “promptly restored, since it is not of a serious nature”.
Source: The BBC
