Crimea: CCTV captures moment of explosion on Kerch Bridge
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Russia has arrested five Russian citizens and three from Ukraine and Armenia in connection with the explosion which badly damaged the Kerch bridge in Crimea on Saturday, state-run media has announced. The Federal Security Service (FSB) claimed the explosion was organised by the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defence Ministry, and its director Kyrylo Budanov, according to the Interfax news agency.
Ukraine has not officially confirmed its involvement in the blast, but some Ukrainian officials have celebrated the damage.
The explosion on the twelve mile-long bridge destroyed one section of the road bridge, temporarily halting road traffic.
It also destroyed several fuel tankers on a train heading towards the annexed peninsula from neighbouring southern Russia.
The bridge, a prestige project personally opened by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2018, had become logistically vital to his military campaign, with supplies to Russian troops fighting in south Ukraine channelled through it.
Russian forces launched mass missile strikes against Ukrainian cities, including power supplies.
At a televised meeting of Russia’s Security Council on Monday, Putin said the strikes were a retaliation for the Crimea bridge blast, which he said had been organised by Ukraine’s secret services.
Specifically, he said he had ordered “massive” long-range strikes against Ukrainian energy, command and communication targets, using missiles fired from air, sea and land, in response to what he described as terrorist attacks, including Saturday’s explosion at the Kerch Strait bridge.
Threatening more strikes in future if Ukraine hits Russian territory, Puton added: “The Kyiv regime, with its actions, has put itself on the same level as international terrorist organisations. With the most odious groups.
“To leave such acts without a response is simply impossible.”
(More to follow)
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