Russian President Vladimir Putin has blamed the Ukrainian secret service SBU for the massive explosion on the Crimean bridge. "There is no doubt. This is an act of terrorism aimed at destroying critical civil infrastructure in the Russian Federation," said the Kremlin chief on Sunday evening. Kyiv has not yet admitted involvement in the attack. Russian citizens and foreign states helped with the preparation, said the head of the national investigative agency, Alexander Bastrykin, at the meeting with Putin, from which the state media published video clips.
The heavy explosion on the only connecting bridge between Russia and the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula raised international fears of a further escalation of the conflict. In an initial reaction on Saturday, the national investigative committee announced that a truck loaded with explosives coming from the Russian side had exploded on the bridge. As a result of the detonation, several tank wagons of a freight train filled with diesel caught fire on the higher railway bridge. As a result, three people died.
Shortly after the explosion on the bridge, the Russian army attacked targets in southern Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy published pictures of badly damaged high-rise buildings in Zaporizhia on his Telegram channel. According to Ukrainian sources, 12 people were killed and 49 injured. Selenskyj spoke of "absolute evil"; the "terrorists" would be held accountable from the commander to the perpetrator. Unlike large parts of the region of the same name, the city of Zaporizhia is not controlled by Russian troops. She has been the target of multiple attacks. According to Ukrainian military information, the Russian troops are said to have fired at least twelve rockets at residential buildings. There was no Russian confirmation for this.
According to British experts, the explosion on the Crimean bridge may have significantly reduced the capacity of the road link. Two of the four lanes collapsed over a length of 250 meters. The other two lanes would probably be used again, according to the daily intelligence update from the British Ministry of Defence. How badly the rail link is damaged is unclear, "but any major disruption to its capacity will most likely have a significant impact on Russia's already strained ability to resupply its forces in southern Ukraine," the statement said.
According to Russian information, train traffic was back to schedule on Sunday. The freight and long-distance trains rolled in normal operation, said the Ministry of Transport in Moscow. Regional traffic should also start again in the evening, it said. The clean-up work continued. In traffic, there were hours of waiting at the bridge, as reported by the media.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has not revealed his country's involvement in the explosion on the Crimean bridge. In Ukraine it was mostly sunny and warm, "unfortunately cloudy in Crimea, although it was warm there too," he said in his daily video speech on the night from Saturday to Sunday, alluding to the detonation. He did not go into detail about the incident.
Kremlin chief Putin initially held back after the explosion on the Crimean Bridge. On Saturday, he instructed the FSB secret service by decree to tighten control over the Crimean bridge, which had been damaged by an explosion. "The FSB will be given powers to organize and coordinate protective measures for the transport route across the Kerch Strait, for the power bridge of the Russian Federation to the Crimea peninsula and the gas pipeline from Krasnodar Territory to Crimea," the decree says. The Kremlin has announced a meeting between Putin and the Russian National Security Council for Monday. A reaction to the attack could be discussed there.
