Russia blames Ukraine forces

FE Team | Published: July 17, 2023 22:43:04

This photo shows damaged parts of an automobile link of the Crimean Bridge connecting Russian mainland and Crimean peninsula over the Kerch Strait not far from Kerch on Monday — AP

WASHINGTONG, July 17 (AP): Traffic on a key military supply bridge connecting Crimea to Russia's mainland came to a standstill Monday after one of its sections was blown up, killing two people and wounding their daughter. Russian officials blamed the attack on Ukraine, but Kyiv officials didn't openly admit it.
The strike on the 19-kilometer (12-mile) Kerch Bridge was carried out by two Ukrainian sea drones, Russia's National Anti-Terrorist Committee said.
Ukrainian officials didn't claim responsibility for the attack, which is the second major strike on the bridge since October, when a truck bomb blew up two of its sections.
The bridge is a conspicuous symbol of Moscow's claims on Crimea and an essential land link to the peninsula, which Russia captured from Ukraine in 2014. The $3.6 billion bridge is the longest in Europe and is crucial for enabling Russia's military operations in southern Ukraine during the almost 17-month-long war.
Russia has expanded its presence in Crimea since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Occasional acts of sabotage and other attacks against Russian military and other facilities on the peninsula have occurred since, with the Kremlin blaming Ukraine.
The attack on the bridge comes as Ukrainian forces are trying to press a counteroffensive in several sections of the front line. It also happened just hours before Russia, as expected, announced it is halting a deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey that allows the export of Ukrainian grain during the war.
Natalia Humeniuk, a spokeswoman for the Ukrainian military's Southern Command, said the explosions on the bridge could be a Russian provocation. But Ukrainian Ukrainska Pravda and RBC Ukraine news outlets said the attack was planned jointly by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Ukrainian Navy and involved sea drones.
Kyiv didn't initially acknowledge responsibility for last October's bombing either, but a senior Ukrainian official eventually confirmed it.
In what appeared to be an indirect acknowledgment of Ukraine's involvement in Monday's explosion, Ukrainian Security Service spokesman Artem Degtyarenko said in a statement that details of what happened would be revealed after Ukraine has won the war.