Video shared on social media on Saturday shows smoke coming from the Kerch Bridge linking Moscow-occupied Crimea with Russia’s mainland.
The bridge has been the scene of recent Ukrainian attacks and the latest images of smoke billowing from it sparked speculation on X (formerly Twitter) about its cause.
Sergey Aksyonov, the Moscow-appointed head of the peninsula which Russia annexed in 2014, wrote on Telegram that “air defense forces shot down two Ukrainian missiles in the Kerch Strait area.”
“The Crimean bridge is not damaged,” he said, urging people to remain calm and trust only official sources of information.
Meanwhile, Russian state media outlet RIA Novosti said that the country’s special services had installed a “smokescreen” by the bridge and that “traffic will resume soon.”
Moscow blamed Kyiv in July for attacking the bridge following explosions on the 12-mile-long structure which was also sabotaged last October.
This is a breaking story and will be updated with further information.