At least three people died this Saturday in a strong explosion on the Crimean bridge, which connects the Crimean peninsula with Russiaaccording to Russian authorities.
“According to preliminary data, three people died as a result of the incident. These are, presumably, the passengers of a car that was next to the truck that exploded,” the Russian Investigative Committee reported.
According to the Committee, at 0307 GMT on the automobile part of the bridge a truck exploded, causing fire to seven fuel tanks of a train moving in the direction of the Crimean peninsula. As a consequence, there was a partial collapse of two sections of the automobile part of the bridge, which also has a railway section.
Moment of the explosion on the Kerch bridge in Crimea. This is the only bridge connecting Russia with Crimea.
Russia claims it was a car bomb. The bridge is key to supplying weapons and fuel to Russian troops. pic.twitter.com/8iBIbV7ksa
— World Alert (@AIertaMundiaI) October 8, 2022
The entity indicated that the bodies of two victims have already been recovered from the Kerch Strait, a man and a woman, whose identities are being established, according to a report from the agency EFEaccording to which, as part of the investigation, Russian investigators managed to collect data on the truck and its owner.
“This is a resident of the Krasnodar Territory,” the Committee noted, adding that investigative actions have already been initiated at his place of residence.
“The truck’s circulation route and the corresponding documentation are being studied,” explained the agency, which also assured that “the criminal investigation to establish the circumstances of the incident on the Crimean bridge is ongoing,” reports the Spanish media.
Meanwhile, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, ordered to reinforce the security of the Kerch Strait bridge, the only one that connects Russia and the Crimean peninsula, which the Kremlin considers part of Russia’s territory after holding a referendum for its annexation in 2014.
On the contrary, Ukraine and its Western allies do not recognize the results of that referendum and the consequent integration of Crimea into Russia, and consider that the peninsula is part of the Ukrainian territory illegally occupied by the neighboring nation.
Putin also ordered to reinforce the security of the infrastructure that provides electricity and natural gas to that region, for which he signed a decree that grants the Federal Security Service (FSB), “the authority to organize and coordinate measures to protect transportation to through the Kerch Strait, the power grid of the Russian Federation to the Crimean peninsula and the main gas pipeline between Krasnodar and Crimea.”
According to the newspaper The country, the bridge, which was inaugurated in 2018, is “a strategic infrastructure of Moscow used for the logistical supply of its troops in southern Ukraine.” The publication also reports that President of the Crimean Council of State, Vladimir Konstantinov, has accused kyiv of what happened.
These statements respond to the insinuations of the Ukrainian authorities that they could be behind the event. Mijaíl Podoliak, adviser to the head of the Presidential Office of Ukraine, affirmed that the explosion that occurred in the early hours of this Saturday is “the beginning” and added that “everything illegal must be destroyed.”
However, kyiv has not officially claimed responsibility for what happened and even Podoliak himself has hinted that Russia could be behind the explosion in search of an escalation in the war, which in recent weeks has been marked by a Ukrainian counteroffensive in the east and south of the country.
“It should be noted that the truck that exploded, according to all indications, entered the bridge from the Russian side. It is in Russia that answers must be sought,” said the Ukrainian presidential adviser.
For its part, the Russian Ministry of Transport affirmed later this Saturday that rail traffic on the Kerch Strait bridge has already resumed, as well as car and bus traffic, restricted only to cross from Crimea to the Russian peninsula. of Taman in both directions.
However, local authorities indicated that heavy vehicles, such as high-tonnage trucks, will still have to wait to cross from one territory to another and will have to do so by ferry, according to press reports.
