After the explosion on the bridge across the Kerch Strait, for which Russia has so far not been blamed, Ukrainian officials posted hilarious messages but without a direct claim of responsibility.
President Vladimir Putin signed a decree to tighten security measures for the bridge, next to the infrastructure facilities that supply the peninsula with electricity and natural gas, and also ordered the formation of a commission of inquiry.
Russian investigators said three people were believed to have died in a car that was near the truck that exploded, and seven cars transporting fuel on a train bound for the peninsula caught fire at the upper level of the bridge.
Despite the damage to the bridge, limited vehicular traffic resumed about 10 hours after the explosion, and the Ministry of Transport allowed rail traffic to resume shortly thereafter.
Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, and President Vladimir Putin inaugurated the 19-kilometre bridge connecting it to Russia’s transport network in a grand celebration four years later.
The bridge now represents an important supply route for the Russian forces that took control of most of the Kherson region in southern Ukraine, as well as the port city of Sevastopol, whose governor told the residents of the region: “Keep calm. There is no need to panic.”
It is not yet clear whether the explosion was a deliberate attack, but the damage to the bridge, which is a prominent infrastructure facility, came at a time when Russia is suffering several defeats on the battlefield, which is likely to weaken the power of the Kremlin’s messages of reassurance to Russian citizens that The conflict is proceeding as planned.
railway workers
The TASS news agency quoted the Russian Emergencies Minister Alexander Korenkov as saying that the railway workers acted with reflexes and separated the seven fuel wagons after they caught fire, which prevented the flames from spreading to the remaining 52 carriages.
The explosion occurred one day after Putin turned 70, and coincided with the appointment of General Sergei Sorovikin as commander of Russian forces in the military operation in Ukraine, in the third change of high-ranking military leaders within a week.
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