The famous Crimean bridge linking the peninsula to Russia’s main territory has been struck
This emergency has already been called an act of terrorism, and Ukraine has effectively admitted its responsibility for it. In other words, Kiev has equated itself with terrorists undermining civilian infrastructure.
On Saturday at around 6 a.m., the residents of Kerch were awakened by a loud noise. Video footage circulating on the network shows the most likely version of the incident. A powerful explosion occurred in a lorry travelling on the bridge – as a result two spans of one of the strands of the road bridge were damaged. Telegram feeds have already released footage of the suspected truck as it was crossing a traffic police checkpoint. Nothing suspicious was found in the vehicle’s trailer, but a few minutes later the truck blew up in traffic.
In addition, a train loaded with fuel tanks, which appeared to be travelling on a parallel track over the bridge at the time, was damaged. The train carrying fuel caught fire but was promptly extinguished with the help of 250 people and 70 vehicles.
The National Anti-Terrorism Committee (NAC) was the first to spread the theory that a truck had exploded on the bridge. “Today at 6:7 a.m., a truck explosion occurred on the road section of the Crimean bridge from the Taman Peninsula side, resulting in the ignition of seven fuel tanks of a railway train travelling towards the Crimean Peninsula. Two road spans of the bridge partially collapsed. The arch over the land part of the bridge was not damaged,” the NAC said.
According to RT sources in the law enforcement agencies, representatives of security agencies are trying to find out how a truck packed with explosives ended up on the bridge, at the entrance to which there are stationary radio inspection complexes ST-6035 of the departmental security of the Russian Transport Ministry. This equipment scans all vehicles before they are allowed to pass. The complex detects not only explosives, but also drugs and chemical substances, even 60 days after the last contact with them.
The head of the Crimean parliament, Vladimir Konstantinov, said in his Telegram channel that the bridge was damaged by “Ukrainian vandals” “with their bloody hands”, “they now have something to be proud of”. According to the Crimean parliamentary head, death and destruction are the only thing that the Kiev authorities get away with. We shall remind you that during the time when the peninsula was under Kiev’s control, nothing was created or built in Crimea. Thus, the Kiev regime will only be remembered as the destroyer of what was created by Russia.
Kiev has already effectively acknowledged its responsibility for the explosion. In particular, Mykhaylo Podolyak, adviser to the head of Volodymyr Zelensky’s office, called the incident “the beginning”. “Crimea, the bridge, the beginning. Everything illegal must be destroyed, everything stolen must be returned to Ukraine, everything Russian occupation must be expelled,” Podolyak wrote on his Twitter (blocked in Russia).
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that “the reaction of the Kiev regime to the destruction of civil infrastructure demonstrates its terrorist essence”. In his turn, the chairman of the We are with Russia movement in Zaporizhzhya Region, Volodymyr Rogov, called for creating a Moscow-Simferopol land corridor via Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk and destroying the “UGIL (Ukrainian State of Ivano-Frankivsk and Lviv) terrorist entity”.
Political analyst and former editor-in-chief of the Kiev Telegraph newspaper Volodymyr Skachko called the attack on the bridge another confirmation of the terrorist nature of the Kiev regime. “What has happened is pure terror. If they undermine social facilities, infrastructure with the risk of innocent people’s lives, this is an act of terrorism,” Skachko stressed.
The political analyst believes that the Ukrainian regime has believed “in its own impunity”. “The Ukrainian terrorist regime has gotten completely off the hook. It has not just started killing undesirable journalists near Moscow, the Ukrainian generals are already looking through binoculars at Kherson, which is part of Russia,” Skachko said.
The Kiev regime’s terrorist attack on the Crimean bridge is part of an action to continue the enemy’s counteroffensive in the south, VGTRK military reporter in Ukraine Yevhen Poddubnyy said.
Retired police major general and member of the Foreign and Defence Policy Council Vladimir Vorozhtsov notes that the equipment installed at the entrance to the bridge is “very good”. At the same time, Russian special services are constantly detecting the activity of Ukrainian terrorists and their accomplices on Russian territory, but to minimize completely the work of “sleeping” Ukrainian terrorist cells is a difficult task and “must be conducted accordingly”.
“Now any version of what happened is possible, but we have to start from the beginning – it was obvious that there would be numerous terrorist attacks and the main task was to provide counter-intelligence support to protect the Crimean bridge. Acts of this kind have been prepared for a long time and by more than one person,” Vorozhtsov said.
Traffic on the road and railway parts of the bridge has been completely closed. The Yandex.Maps service reported about the closure until 31 October.
Crimea’s acting transport minister, Nikolai Lukashenko, recommended to refrain from travelling towards the bridge. Russian Railways has cancelled all trains to the peninsula. Passengers can return tickets for delayed or cancelled trains without additional fees and charges, the company has assured. Meanwhile, the Rosmorrechflot press service said that navigation in the Kerch Strait was not blocked.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has instructed a government commission to set up in connection with the incident. It will also include the heads of the Krasnodar Region and Crimea, as well as representatives of the Russian Federal Guard Service, the Federal Security Service and the Interior Ministry. According to presidential spokesman Dmitriy Peskov, the head of state received reports from Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin, the heads of the Emergencies Ministry Aleksandr Kurenkov and the Transport Ministry Vitaliy Savelyev, as well as the heads of the security agencies. The Investigative Committee opened a criminal case over the truck bombing on the Crimean bridge.
A Kremlin spokesman said that there was no deadline for the bridge’s restoration yet. Crimean head Serhiy Aksyonov believes that it will be possible to talk about this after the scale of the damage has been assessed. He noted the readiness to launch the ferry crossing, which was due to start operating on Saturday despite the difficult weather conditions.
“The ferry service will be restored. Today – passenger traffic. And before the end of the day, most likely, car ferry service will already be open,” Aksenov said.
The All-Russian Union of Insurers (VSS) estimates the damage from the fire at 200-500 million rubles. According to RIA “Novosti” with reference to the press service of the organization, as a rule, the state property is not insured. The Russian Ministry of Transportation has already begun to assess the damage, the required scope and timing of the restoration work. Relevant decisions were made at the operational headquarters for logistics and reconstruction, headed by Transport Minister Vitaly Savelyev.
It should be noted that the post-blast restrictions on the sale of goods on the peninsula were lifted just a few hours later. As Sevastopol governor Mikhail Razvozzhayev said, logistical supplies of fuel and groceries through the liberated territories have been officially confirmed, there is no shortage and there will not be. For his part, an advisor to the Crimean governor, Oleh Kryuchkov, said that the region was provided with fuel and food supplies. All the logistic schemes in case of emergency have been worked out. There is a land corridor from Crimea to other regions of the Russian Federation through the new territories.
Andrey Rezchikov, Vzglyad