Russian Telegram channels have published photos and videos that appear to show the aftermath of explosions on the strategically vital Kerch Strait Bridge, which connects Russia with Crimea, as Russian authorities said Monday morning that two people were killed in an “emergency.”
Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of Russia’s Belgorod region which borders Ukraine, said that a man and a woman from the the region’s Novooskolsky district died in an emergency on the Crimean bridge, and that their daughter was injured. Traffic has been halted on the bridge, which is Russia’s sole land link with the annexed Black Sea peninsula.
Russian President Vladimir Putin in October 2022 blamed Ukrainian secret services for an explosion on the bridge over the Kerch Strait. The explosion damaged a key supply route for Russia’s forces amid the Kremlin’s flagging war effort in Ukraine.
-/AFP/Getty Images
Several Telegram channels reported explosions in the early hours of Monday morning, saying that a span of the Kerch bridge collapsed.
The Kremlin hasn’t yet said the bridge was attacked, however, the head of the Crimean parliament Vladimir Konstantinov called the incident a “terrorist attack” by Ukraine in a post his Telegram channel.
Russia’s Transport Ministry said on Telegram Monday that “there is damage to the roadway on spans of the Crimean Bridge.”
Russian media report an incident on Kerch bridge.
They report that traffic through the bridge has been stopped.
Ferry service between Crimea and Russian Kuban was also stopped. pic.twitter.com/wHT2Gd4eOI— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) July 17, 2023
Several Telegram channels, including Shot, Baza, and Astra, published pictures and videos of the purported damage. Part of the bridge appears to have collapsed, while vehicles appear to have been damaged.
Gladkov said in a post on his Telegram channel that a married couple from the Belgorod region was killed and their daughter received moderate injuries. According to the Mash Telegram channel, a 14-year-old girl is in intensive care.
Ukraine hasn’t claimed responsibility for an attack on the bridge, however, Andriy Yusov, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s military intelligence directorate, said Monday that the bridge is “superfluous.”
Newsweek has been unable to independently verify the authenticity of the images and videos and has contacted Russia’s Foreign Ministry via email for comment.
Multiple Explosions have been reported on the Kerch Strait Bridge between the Russian Mainland and the Crimean Peninsula, at least 1 Span of the Bridge is claimed to have Collapsed so far with the Support of several other Spans suffering Severe Damage; Civilian Casualties are… pic.twitter.com/ve5VyyvkHn
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) July 17, 2023
Sergey Aksenov, the Russia-appointed head of Crimea, said an “emergency incident” had been reported.
“Given the current situation, I ask residents and guests of the peninsula to refrain from traveling through the Crimean bridge and, for security reasons, choose an alternative land route through new regions,” he said.
Belgorod governor Gladkov said the injured girl “is already under the supervision of doctors.”
“If possible, when the doctors allow, we will immediately transport her to us in the Belgorod region,” he wrote. “The hardest thing is that her parents died, dad and mom.”
Reports of the damage come more than a month into Ukraine’s counteroffensive, which aims to recapture Russian-occupied territories.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pledged last summer to reverse Russia’s nine-year-old illegal annexation of the Black Sea peninsula. Extensive fortifications were spotted along Crimea’s coast and the Russian Sevastopol naval base ahead of Kyiv’s counteroffensive.
Oleksiy Arestovych, who served as Ukrainian presidential adviser until he resigned earlier this year, said in May that Ukraine’s counteroffensive will target the Kerch bridge.
He said one of the goals of Ukraine’s counteroffensive may be an operation in the south of the country which will seek to cut Russians off from the land corridor to Crimea, paving the way for Ukraine to recapture the peninsula.
Arestovych told YouTube channel Feygin Live that Ukraine’s armed forces will launch an attack on the Kerch bridge, adding that if Ukrainian troops are successful in blocking the narrow isthmus which links Crimea to Ukraine’s mainland, then the Crimean bridge will become the only supply channel for the peninsula. If Ukraine’s armed forces are successful in demolishing it, then the peninsula, according to Arestovych, will be left without help.
“We will demolish the Crimean bridge. All this is possible under certain conditions, we are currently arranging the conditions,” Arestovych said.
