Moscow blames Ukraine as explosion destroys bridge linking Crimea to Russia

An explosion has destroyed the sole bridge linking Russia with the occupied Crimea peninsula.

According to viral footage on social media on Saturday, plums of smoke and fire can be seen engulfing two railway carriages from a train with segments of the bridge collapsed.

According to BBC, Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee (NAC) said the explosion happened in the early hours of the day.

“At 06:07 Moscow time today [03:07 GMT], an explosion was set off at a cargo vehicle on the motorway part of the Crimean bridge on the side of the Taman peninsula, which set fire to seven fuel tanks of a train that was en route to the Crimean peninsula,” the committee said.

“Two motorway sections of the bridge partially collapsed.”

In 2018, Vladimir Putin, president of Russia, commissioned the bridge following the annexation of Crimea four years prior.

Kyiv has always viewed the bridge as an affront to its authority and the crossing gained renewed notoriety after it became the route where Russia moved military equipment to support its invasion of Ukraine.

Vladimir Konstantinov, Pro-Russia’s Crimean parliamentary speaker, blamed the explosion on “Ukrainian vandals, who have finally managed to reach their bloody hands to the Crimean bridge”.

He added the damage to the bridge would be “promptly restored since it is not of a serious nature”.

Ukraine is yet to claim responsibility for the explosion.

Russia and Ukraine have been at war since Putin ordered the invasion of the neighbouring country earlier this year.

All attempts at peace are yet to yield a lasting ceasefire between the two countries.