Traffic on the Russianbuilt Crimean Bridge has been halted due to an “emergency situation,” Russiandeployed officials said Monday, as Ukrainian media reported explosions on the bridge.
That said Sergei Aksyonov, a governor appointed by Russia The emergency occurred on the 145th pillar of the bridge connecting the Crimean peninsula in the Krasnodar region of Russia. He did not give any further details.
It seems that part of the deck of the Crimean bridge collapsed pic.twitter.com/biwOcsZfFm
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) July 17, 2023
The RBCUkraine news agency reported that explosions could be heard on the bridge.
The Russianappointed leader of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, has announced that the 145th pillar of the Kerch Strait Bridge collapsed as a result of a “terrorist attack” that brought motor traffic across the bridge to a complete standstill; He further stated that there was no damage to the train… pic.twitter.com/380IffkhEG
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) July 17, 2023
Crimea was annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014, but is internationally recognized as part of Ukraine.
Russian channel Gray Zone, a heavily followed Telegram channel of mercenary group Wagner, reported that there were two attacks on the bridge at 03:04 (0004 GMT) and 03:20
Portal could not independently verify the reports. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.
It was not immediately clear what the incident on the bridge would mean for the United Nationsbrokered deal allowing for the safe export of Ukrainian grain to the Black Sea. The deal expires on Monday and was still pending as of Sunday night.
The 19kilometer road and rail bridge was damaged in an explosion last October that the Kremlin said was staged by Ukrainian security forces. Months later, Ukraine only indirectly admitted to the attack.
Both Aksyonov and Krasnodar Territory Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said they had set up operational headquarters in their regions to deal with the emergency situation on the bridge.
The peninsula’s Russianbacked administration said Crimea was receiving all necessary supplies, but urged residents not to drive across the bridge.
Serhiy Bratchuk, spokesman for the Odessa Military Administration of Ukraine, posted on his Telegram a photo of what appeared to be a line of the bridge broken in half in the distance.
It wasn’t immediately clear if this was related to the attack.
According to TASS, the ferry service from Crimea to Kuban has also been suspended. pic.twitter.com/wBLd9TkUY6
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) July 17, 2023
SOURCE: Portal
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