Massive blast cripples parts of Crimea-Russia bridge, in blow to Putin

By Hannah Ritchie, Tim Lister and Josh Pennington, CNN

In a major blow for Russian President Vladimir Putin, a huge explosion early Saturday severely damaged the only bridge connecting the annexed Crimean Peninsula with the Russian mainland, crimping a key supply route for Moscow’s faltering war in Ukraine.

The blast collapsed part of the roadway on the Kerch Strait road-and-rail bridge – opened by Putin himself in 2018 – images and video from the scene showed. At least three people were killed in the explosion, Russian officials said, citing preliminary information.

The exact cause of the blast at Europe’s longest bridge is yet to be confirmed. Russian officials said a truck exploded, causing Crimea-bound sections of the bridge’s roadway to fall. A subsequent fire engulfed a train of fuel tanks on a separate, adjacent rail portion of the bridge.

Putin ordered a “government commission” to examine the Kerch bridge “emergency” in Crimea, Russian state media TASS reported.

Also on Saturday, the Russian Defense Ministry announced the appointment of a new commander for what it calls its special military operation in Ukraine, according to Russian state media.

The new commander, General Sergey Surovikin, first saw service in Afghanistan before commanding a unit in the second Chechen war. He has commanded several motorized rifle divisions and was instrumental in Russia’s operations in Syria, and while there, was awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation.

His appointment is the latest promotion in a military career that began in 1983 but has also led him to be sanctioned this year by the European Union.

The long-term effects on the use of the bridge weren’t immediately clear. Russian officials said a limited amount of car traffic had resumed on undamaged sections of the bridge’s roadways by Saturday evening and that train services were resuming on the bridge’s railways.

But trucks were being asked to take ferries across the strait, state media reported.

The damage to the roadway appeared to be severe, with westbound lanes crippled in at least two places. Video and images from the 19-kilometer (11-mile) bridge appeared to show a portion of the roadway had fallen into the water.

An official in Crimea blamed “Ukrainian vandals” for the explosion. Some Ukrainian officials gloated over the incident without directly claiming responsibility – even announcing commemorative stamps will be made. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that “the reaction of the Kyiv regime to the destruction of civilian infrastructure testifies to its terrorist nature.”

The bridge is strategically important because it links Russia’s Krasnodar region with the Crimean Peninsula, which was annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014 in a move condemned by the international community.

It is a critical artery for supplying Crimea with both its daily needs and supplies for the military. Over the last few months, dozens of Russian military convoys have used the bridge, carrying vehicles, armor and fuel.

If the Russian military’s use of the bridge is hampered, its supply lines to forces in southern Ukraine would become more tenuous, especially when combined with Ukrainian advances southward into Kherson region, north of Crimea.

Russia has used the Crimean railroads to ferry supplies to forces in Kherson, and several rail hubs in both Crimea and Kherson have been attacked by long-range Ukrainian rockets.

Sergey Aksenov, the Russian-appointed Head of Crimea, said “two spans of the roadbed of the part [of the bridge] from Krasnodar to Kerch, collapsed” after the explosion, and that a train’s fuel tanks caught fire.

Preliminary information indicates three people were killed in the incident, “presumably the passengers of a car that was next to the blown-up truck,” Russia’s Investigative Committee said on Telegram.

At least two bodies, that of a man and a woman, were recovered from the water, and their identities were being established, the investigative panel said.

Records indicate the truck that exploded belonged to someone in Russia’s Krasnodar region; investigators are checking the owner’s home and trying to determine the truck’s route, the investigative committee said.

The bridge spans the Kerch Strait, which connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Azov, on which sit key Ukrainian ports, including Mariupol. For Russia, the bridge symbolizes the physical “reunification” of Crimea with the Russian mainland.

No further details on the timing or scope of the commission have been announced.

RIA Novosti said that there are “no projections for the timing of the restoration of the Crimean bridge yet,” citing Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov.

An official in Crimea placed blame on “Ukrainian vandals.”

“Ukrainian vandals somehow managed to get their bloody paws on the Crimean bridge. And now they have something to be proud of, in 23 years of their economic activity, they did not manage to build anything deserving of interest in Crimea. But they did succeed in damaging the roadbed of the Russian bridge,” Chairman of the State Council of the Republic of Crimea Vladimir Konstantinov said.

“Such is the whole essence of the Kiev regime and the Ukrainian state … Of course, the causes of the accident will be investigated, and the damage will be repaired swiftly,” he added.

CNN cannot independently verify Konstantinov’s claim.