Ukraine war: Car bomb sparks major blaze on bridge linking Russia and Crimea
major fire has broken out on a controversial bridge linking Crimea with Russia.
A car bomb hit the road bridge around 6 am local time before a fire took hold on several wagons of a train on the adjacent railway bridge, according to the Russian National Anti-Terrorism Committee.
A view shows a fire on the Kerch bridge at sunrise in the Kerch Strait, Crimea, October 8, 2022 – Copyright Credit: Reuters
Images shared on social media purported to show fire and damage to the span. The authenticity of the reports and images couldn’t be immediately verified.
The Anti-Terrorism Committee did not immediately say who it thought was behind the blast.
Two lanes are damaged, but the arch of the bridge is not affected, according to the Anti-Terrorism Committee.
Russia said it had “opened a criminal investigation in connection with the incident on the Crimean Bridge” on Saturday morning.
Vladimir Konstantinov, head of the Russian-backed Crimean assembly, denounced “Ukrainian vandals”.
Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the blast.
The crossing is a pair of road and rail bridges that Russia built after it seized and annexed Crimea from Ukraine in violation of international law in 2014.
The bridge, completed in 2018, was built at great expense on the orders of Putin and has become symbolic of Russia’s annexation of the peninsula.
Military equipment for the Russian army fighting in Ukraine is transported along the bridge, spanning the Kerch Strait.
Russia has maintained that fighting in Ukraine posed no risk to the bridge, though it threatened Kyiv with reprisals if Ukrainian forces attacked Crimean infrastructure.
The fire occurred hours after explosions rocked the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv early Saturday, sending towering plumes of smoke into the sky and triggering a series of secondary explosions.
Several explosions have torn through Russian military installations on the peninsula in recent months.
The Djankoi military base was devastated in August by a blast at an ammunition depot, which Russia eventually recognised as “sabotage”.
