Ukraine has made a surprise attack on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s birthday by knocking out a critical bridge connecting Crimea to Russia’s mainland.
Ukrainian officials celebrated the destruction of the bridge, signaling that more attacks may be looming.
However, Ukraine has yet to claim responsibility for the explosion.
“Crimea, the bridge, the beginning,” said Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on social media as he posted a picture of the bridge collapsing into the sea.
“Everything illegal must be destroyed, everything stolen must be returned to Ukraine, everything occupied by Russia must be expelled.”
The Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea was annexed by Russia in 2014.
Ukraine’s national security chief, Oleksiy Danilov posted a video of the blown-up bridge alongside a video of Marilyn Monroe singing happy birthday to US president John F. Kennedy in 1962.
Friday was Putin’s 70th birthday.
Доброго ранку, Україно! 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/UQMI6LheSR
— Oleksiy Danilov (@OleksiyDanilov) October 8, 2022
According to The Financial Times:
“Russia’s anti-terrorist committee said a truck exploded on the bridge’s roadside in the early hours of Saturday morning and caused seven fuel tanks on the railway bridge which runs alongside it to ignite.
“Putin, Russia’s president, ordered senior officials and security agencies to investigate the explosion, which sent huge clouds of smoke into the sky as a blaze raged, caused two road spans of the bridge to collapse and scorched part of the railway.”
According to The Daily Mail:
The blast on the Kerch bridge came at 3am GMT today as Ukraine continues its counter-offensive against Russian forces in the south and east of the country.
Footage shows the rail bridge engulfed in flames with the road bridge next to it partially collapsed.
Witnesses claimed the huge explosion could be heard from miles away as a train in the middle of the bridge burst into flames.
The entrances at both ends are equipped with Russian-designed ST-6035 ‘stationary radio-technical inspection complexes’ intended to identify explosives.
‘The fire is now being extinguished on the Crimean bridge,’ said Crimean official Oleg Kryuchkov.
‘As soon as it is over, the damage to the bridge will be assessed, and then we can talk about the restoration timeline.’
Another angle that shows tankers that ignited and blew up, likely causing the fireball seen in the previous videos. pic.twitter.com/ynB5qsza9D
— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) October 8, 2022
A lot of footage of the Kerch Bridge explosion circulating on Russian and Ukrainian social media. This one and the one above appear to me security camera footage of the moment of the blast, which Russia’s anti-terror committee claims was caused by a trunk that exploded. pic.twitter.com/MwK6oUGJ13
— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) October 8, 2022
