Ukraine’s security service claimed responsibility for the first time on Wednesday for an explosion that badly damaged the Kerch Bridge linking the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula with Russia last October.
The explosion, which Russian authorities said was caused by a truck bomb, left three people dead.
CRIMEAN BRIDGE ATTACK LEAVES TWO DEAD, DAMAGES KEY RUSSIAN SUPPLY LINE
Speaking on Ukrainian national television on Wednesday, Ukrainian Security Service head Vasyl Malyuk said his agency was behind the attack.
Workers surround a damaged section of the Kerch Bridge outside Kerch, Crimea, Wednesday, July 19, 2023. (Russian National Antiterrorism Committee via AP)
“There were many different operations, special operations. We’ll be able to speak about some of them publicly and out loud after the victory, we will not talk at all about others,” Malyuk said. “It is one of our actions, namely the destruction of the Crimean bridge on October 8 last year.”
CRIMEA BRIDGE DAMAGED AS RUSSIA ALLEGES UKRAINE ATTACK
A further attack on the bridge last week, killing a couple and seriously wounding their daughter, left a span of the roadway hanging perilously. The damage initially appeared to be less severe than what was caused by the assault in October, but it highlighted the bridge’s vulnerability. Malyuk made no mention of who was behind the more recent attack.
The bridge connecting Crimea and Russia carries heavy significance for Moscow, both logistically and psychologically, as a key artery for military and civilian supplies and as an assertion of Kremlin control of the peninsula it annexed in 2014.
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