{"id":1679567,"date":"2022-10-08T09:07:51","date_gmt":"2022-10-08T13:07:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1679567"},"modified":"2022-10-08T09:07:55","modified_gmt":"2022-10-08T13:07:55","slug":"major-explosion-damages-only-bridge-linking-russia-and-crimea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/major-explosion-damages-only-bridge-linking-russia-and-crimea\/","title":{"rendered":"Major Explosion Damages Only Bridge Linking Russia and Crimea"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fmajor-explosion-damages-only-bridge-linking-russia-and-crimea%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1679567&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Russian authorities said that an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-explosion\">explosion<\/a> involving a truck on Saturday caused a fire and destroyed a section of a bridge linking <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-russia\">Russia<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-crimea\">Crimea<\/a>. The bridge is regarded as a key supply route for Russian troops in southern <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-ukraine\">Ukraine<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The Crimean Bridge\u2014also called Kerch Strait Bridge or Kerch Bridge\u2014is a structure 19 kilometers (12 miles) in length that passes across the Kerch Strait and links southern Russia to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-crimean-peninsula\">Crimean Peninsula<\/a>. The Kerch Strait links the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.<\/p>\n<p>A truck exploded on the bridge around 6 a.m. local time.\u00a0Russia\u2019s National Anti-Terrorism Committee announced that the explosion caused a fire on the parallel rail section, where seven railway cars carrying fuel caught fire. The blast also caused a \u201cpartial collapse of two sections of the bridge.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A spokesperson from the Russian Highways State Company\u00a0(Avtodor) <a href=\"https:\/\/tass.com\/emergencies\/1519551\">told<\/a>\u00a0the TASS news agency that the movement of vehicles across the Crimean Bridge has been temporarily suspended, adding at the time that \u201cpersonnel of the Russian emergencies ministry and the road service are working on the site to contain the blaze.\u201d The fire has since been extinguished.<\/p>\n<p>Russian President Vladimir Putin was informed about the explosion and he ordered the creation of a government panel to deal with the emergency.<\/p>\n<p>While the bridge undergoes repair, a ferry service will be provided later on Saturday. Crimea\u2019s Head Sergey Aksyonov said on Telegram, per <a href=\"https:\/\/tass.com\/emergencies\/1519597\">TASS<\/a>: \u201cA ferry service is ready to be launched, it will start operating later today. We will announce a timetable later.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Crimean Peninsula is key to sustaining Russia\u2019s military operations in the south. If the bridge is made inoperable, it would make it significantly more challenging to ferry supplies to the peninsula. While Russia seized the areas north of Crimea early during the invasion and built a land corridor to it along the Sea of Azov, Ukraine is pressing a counteroffensive to reclaim them.<\/p>\n<p>The explosion on the Crimean Bridge took place hours after <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/russia-ukraine-iran-middle-east-business-5b8bcee162e155e58423f64671c7b3a5\">multiple explosions<\/a>\u00a0early Saturday hit the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, which triggered a series of secondary explosions. The city\u2019s mayor,\u00a0Ihor Terekhov, said that the series of explosions were due to missile strikes aimed at the center of the city, which caused fires at one of Kharkiv\u2019s medical institutions, as well as a nonresidential building. No reports of casualties were noted.<\/p>\n<h2>Bridge Explosion Is the \u2018Beginning\u2019:\u00a0Ukraine Official<\/h2>\n<p>While no one has yet to explicitly claim public responsibility for the attack, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy\u2019s aide, Mikhail Podoliak, posted on Twitter saying the explosion is \u201cthe beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCrimea, the bridge, the beginning. Everything illegal must be destroyed, everything stolen must be returned to Ukraine, everything occupied by Russia must be expelled,\u201d he <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Podolyak_M\/status\/1578628414197485569?s=20&amp;t=dbN2IKa_6YkEZuLSTrrPZg\">wrote<\/a> in English.<\/p>\n<p>Podoliak previously in August threatened the bridge, telling <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2022\/aug\/16\/creating-chaos-zelenskiys-adviser-outlines-ukraines-military-strategy\">The Guardian<\/a> that the bridge is \u201can illegal construction and the main gateway to supply the Russian army in Crimea\u201d and that \u201csuch objects should be destroyed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Zelenskyy and\u00a0other Ukrainian officials have also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/volodymyr-zelenskyy-vows-ukraine-will-retake-crimea\/a-62902884\">previously stated<\/a> that Ukraine will use force to retake Crimea.<\/p>\n<p>Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 after a\u00a0vast majority of people in Crimea had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-europe-26606097\">voted in a referendum<\/a> in March 2014 to reunite with Russia and\u00a0secede from Ukraine.\u00a0The vote took place after\u00a0anti-Russia, pro-E.U. factions overthrew then-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych\u2019s government, which wasn\u2019t against Russia, in an armed coup in February 2014.<\/p>\n<p>The referendum was condemned by the United States and the European Union, with the latter saying in a statement (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.consilium.europa.eu\/uedocs\/cms_Data\/docs\/pressdata\/en\/ec\/141566.pdf\">pdf<\/a>) that the poll was\u00a0\u201cillegal and illegitimate.\u201d Both the United States and the E.U. issued sanctions in response to the vote.<\/p>\n<p>The Crimean Bridge, a\u00a0$3.69 billion (230 billion rubles) project, was constructed following the annexation of Crimea. Russia opened the first part of the span to car traffic in May 2018. The parallel bridge for rail traffic opened the following year.\u00a0Before the bridge\u2019s existence, the Crimean Peninsula could only be reached from Russia by sea or air.<\/p>\n<p>It was Russia\u2019s only land link to the peninsula until Russian forces later seized\u00a0more Ukrainian territory on the northern end of the Sea of Azov in heavy fighting, particularly around the city of Mariupol, earlier in 2022.<\/p>\n<p><em>The Associated Press contributed to this report.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"author_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"one_author_block round\">\n<div class=\"top_row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/author-mimi-nguyen-ly\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Mimi Nguyen Ly covers world news with a focus on U.S. news. Contact her at mimi.nl@epochtimes.com<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Russian authorities said that an explosion involving a truck on Saturday caused a fire and destroyed a section of a bridge linking Russia and Crimea. The bridge is regarded as<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1679567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1679567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1679567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1679567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1679567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1679567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1679567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}