According to media reports from Russia and Ukraine, there have been several explosions near the Crimean Bridge. In Moscow there is talk of Ukrainian drone attacks in which a tanker was also hit.
According to Russian and Ukrainian media, there were several explosions near the Crimean Bridge during the night. A Russian tanker may have been hit by a drone.
Ukrainian media reported three explosions near the bridge connecting the Moscow-held Black Sea peninsula of Crimea and mainland Russia. The bridge should therefore be completely darkened and closed to traffic.
Details still unclear
A representative of the Russian occupation administration in Crimea spoke on Telegram of an “active dangerous situation”. Russian state media reported that a rescue team had moved towards a tanker. There were initially no further official statements. However, a Russian-appointed official in the region denied the reports. “Again, there was no direct attack on the Crimean bridge, nor was there an explosion in the immediate vicinity,” Sergei Kryuchkov was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.
The Russian state news agency TASS, citing the coordination center for sea rescue in Novorossiysk, reported that a Russian tanker was damaged during an attack in the Kerch Strait, which connects the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, during the night. The tanker’s engine room was damaged, but the ship’s crew is safe.
Ships called for increased vigilance
An alleged Russian radio message to the ships in the Kerch Strait was also published on the Internet. It calls on all ships to be more vigilant in the event of an attack by air and sea drones.
In an alleged radio call from the hit tanker published online, one of the crew members explains that the engine room is flooded and the ship is said to be immobilized. The information could not be checked independently.
conflicting parties as a source
Information on the course of the war, shelling and casualties provided by official bodies of the Russian and Ukrainian conflict parties cannot be directly checked by an independent body in the current situation.
Department of Defense in Kyiv warned several times
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense has previously warned that from July 21, 2023, all ships calling at Black Sea ports of the Russian Federation and Ukrainian ports temporarily occupied by Russia will be considered military targets by Ukraine.
Ukraine has repeatedly attacked Russian naval ships and also the bridge to the Russian-annexed Crimean Peninsula in the Black Sea. The country has been defending itself against Russian war of aggression for more than 17 months.