The Kremlin has claimed it launched two Ukrainian missiles aimed at Russia’s Kerch Bridge to Crimea – video shows smoke billowing over the vital link to the annexed peninsula.
The 12-mile Kerch Bridge is of great importance to Moscow, both logistically and psychologically, as it is a major artery for military and civilian supplies and underpins the Kremlin’s control of the peninsula, which the country illegally annexed in 2014.
Last week, a Ukrainian sea drone struck a Russian tanker near the bridge, while an attack on the bridge last month killed a couple and seriously injured their daughter, leaving a section of the road critically dead.
The damage appeared less severe than the damage caused by an attack in October, but again highlighted the vulnerability of the £3 billion bridge. Traffic is believed to have been stopped, but Russian officials said there were no injuries.
As videos circulated on Russian social media on Saturday that appeared to show smoke rising over the bridge, Crimea’s Moscow-appointed governor Sergei Aksyonov reported that Russian air defenses also shot down two Ukrainian missiles.
“The Ukrainian missile was spotted in time and intercepted in the air by Russian air defense systems. No damage or casualties were reported,” the ministry said in a statement.
An adviser to Mr Aksyonov, Oleg Kryuchkov, claimed that “a smoke screen had been put up by the special services”.
Smoke billows over Russia’s Kerch Bridge to Crimea – as the Kremlin claims to have launched two Ukrainian missiles aimed at the crucial link to the annexed peninsula
The Kerch Bridge, which connects Crimea and Russia, is of great importance for Moscow
The Russian Defense Ministry claimed that Ukraine tried to destroy the bridge with S-200 anti-aircraft missiles.
The alleged attack is understood to be the first time the vital bridge has been attacked during the day.
Last month, dramatic footage captured the moment massive explosions rocked the crossing, with large lightning bolts and thunderous explosions both seen and heard from neighboring towns.
A section of the crossing was destroyed in the double attack. Pictures show twisted metal barriers, debris and a damaged car – a major setback to Moscow’s war effort.
Russian officials accused Ukraine of carrying out the attack with the involvement of Britain and the US – without providing any evidence.
Putin’s enraged propagandists then, predictably, parroted the Kremlin’s line and urged Moscow to retaliate against Tower Bridge in London, calling the landmark a “legitimate target.”
The latest alleged attack on the Kerch Bridge came just hours after Moscow claimed it shot down 20 drones into Crimea in the early hours of Saturday.
Fourteen drones were shot down by Russian air defenses and another six electronically blocked, the ministry said in a Telegram post. No casualties or damage were reported.
Kiev officials have neither confirmed nor denied Ukraine’s involvement in the attacks.
The attempted drone and missile strikes were followed by three consecutive days of drone strikes on the Russian capital Moscow.
The alleged attack is understood to be the first time the vital bridge (pictured) has been attacked during the day.
Last month, dramatic footage showed the moment massive explosions rocked the 12-mile intersection
Pictured: The £3billion Crimean Bridge was damaged after a drone strike last month
Firing drones on Russia has little apparent military value for Ukraine after more than 17 months of war, but the strategy has helped to unnerve Russians and remind them of the consequences of the conflict.
Drone attacks have increased in recent weeks in both Moscow and Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014 – a move most people around the world considered illegal.
Kiev officials have neither confirmed nor denied Ukraine’s possible involvement in the attempted attacks.
Elsewhere, Russia claimed it had regained control of the village of Urozhaine in Ukraine’s easternmost Luhansk region through a night counterattack.
According to the region’s governor, Oleh Syniehubov, a 73-year-old woman was killed in Russian shelling in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region early Saturday morning.
Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said one policeman was killed and 12 people injured when a Russian guided aerial bomb hit the town of Orichiv in Ukraine’s partially occupied southern Zaporizhia region.
Four of the injured were also police officers, he said.
Meanwhile, local officials reported explosions in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, hometown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on Saturday morning, but no casualties were reported.
On Ukraine’s Black Sea coast, the city of Odessa has opened several beaches for the first time since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022.
Odessa Governor Oleh Kiper said six beaches were open but stressed that access to beaches was prohibited during the airstrike warning.
The strategic port and key grain export hub has been subject to repeated missile and drone attacks — particularly since Moscow pulled out of a landmark grain deal last month while Kiev scrambles to retake its occupied territories — while the city’s beaches are regularly plagued by Russian riots mines are washed ashore .