The Crimean Bridge was attacked. According to Moscow, Ukrainian forces launched naval drones on this strategic link between the peninsula and the mainland overnight from Sunday to Monday, killing two civilians. The attack on Kiev caused significant damage to the road section of the bridge, the only one that connects Russia to the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea annexed by Moscow in 2014, and serves as a rear base for the Russian army fighting in Ukraine.
It was carried out by the Ukrainian special services and naval forces using “naval drones”, a source within the Ukrainian security services (SBU) confirmed on Monday. The attack was carried out by Ukraine, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova confirmed on Telegram.
Two civilians killed
The Russian Anti-Terrorism Committee (NAK) said in a statement that it took place at 2:05 a.m. (French time) and confirmed that it was carried out by “naval surface drones”. Two civilians, a man and a woman who were driving, were killed there and their daughter injured, the Russian Investigative Committee said in a statement on Monday.
The Russian governor of the annexed Crimean peninsula, Sergei Aksionov, had initially mentioned on Telegram an “emergency” which required traffic to be stopped on the bridge, the Russian Ministry of Transport specifying for its part that the roadway had been “damaged”. On Telegram, the Crimea-24 public television channel posted a video of the bridge showing a partially collapsed portion of its road section.
Replacement ferries
The Investigative Committee also released a video, showing men picking up clues from the causeway leaning towards the sea. road traffic and the other rail traffic.
The railway section of the bridge was not damaged and traffic resumed there in the morning, Crimean authorities said. Ferry services to cross this arm of the sea have also resumed, motorists wanting to cross the strait being called upon to use them. The viaduct, which spans the Kerch Strait, had already been damaged on October 8 by a powerful explosion attributed by the Russian authorities to a truck booby-trapped by the Ukrainian secret services. The concrete bridge, built at great expense on the orders of Vladimir Putin, was then put back into service.