To divide
Smoke rises on the Crimean bridge. An act of sabotage by Ukraine? Russia talks about exercises – and appears to be preparing for imminent fighting.
Crimea – A tall column of smoke floating towards the sea, in the middle of the Crimean Bridge. These videos are making the rounds on social media on Wednesday (May 24). Residents of the neighboring town were frightened by the column, he said. The bridge was closed. “You can see it from different parts of the city,” reported the Kerch.fm portal. Another alleged act of sabotage by Ukraine?
Smoke over Crimean bridge: Russia denies act of sabotage and speaks in exercise
In recent weeks, there have been repeated reports of suspected acts of sabotage by Ukraine in Crimea. Once a fuel depot burned, another time there were explosions on a railway line. But this time it must be different. Sergey Aksenov, Russia’s appointed chief of Crimea, wrote in Telegram this morning that the Crimean bridge was “closed due to exercises in the area”.
The Russian news agency RIA Novosti, close to the Kremlin, added shortly afterwards to Telegram that the smoke was “related to the exercises”. This information could not be independently confirmed. As the Ukrainian online newspaper Ukrainska Pravda reports with reference to propagandists, the bridge was reopened at around 11 am. It is not known why the population was not warned and why the exercise was carried out.
Preparations in Crimea: Russia apparently expecting a counter-offensive into annexed territory
In October, there was a violent explosion on the Crimean Bridge, built in 2018 and connecting the annexed area to the Russian mainland. Russia then blamed the Crimean attack on the Ukrainian secret service. In Ukraine’s planned counter-offensive, Russia also seems suspicious and is preparing to attack Ukraine against annexed territory. As the Financial Times reports in relation to analysis of satellite images, Russia has largely secured land access to Crimea.
Among other things, anti-tank ditches, zigzag ditches and concrete “dragon’s teeth” barricades were installed south of the province of Zaporizhia – at the most important transport hubs and gates between Ukraine and the peninsula. Apparently, the exercise on the second access point to the peninsula, the bridge to Russia, followed on Wednesday. If Ukraine does attack Crimea, experts expect a bloodbath. It’s going to be a long fight. However, according to experts, recapturing Crimea offers Ukraine the best chance of shaking Putin’s supposedly invincible regime. Meanwhile, Russia reports new attacks on Russia’s Belgorod region. (chd)