Ukrainian official appears to claim responsibility for Crimea bridge explosion

Ukraine Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar has made what seems to be the clearest admission but that Ukrainian forces had been liable for an assault final October on the bridge connecting Russia and Crimea, which Moscow has managed because it seized the peninsula in 2014.

“273 days ago, (we) launched the first strike on the Crimean bridge to disrupt Russian logistics,” she mentioned, on Telegram.

Russian President Vladimir Putin known as the assault on the Kerch Bridge to Crimea a terrorist act carried out by Ukrainian particular providers. (AP)

CNN has contacted the Armed Forces of Ukraine for a press release concerning the declare of duty of the bridge explosion however has but to obtain a response.

The assault on the Kerch bridge, which disrupted main transport hyperlinks between mainland Russia and the annexed Crimean peninsula, not solely struck a blow in opposition to Russia’s navy effort in Ukraine but additionally represented a psychological blow for Moscow and a significant propaganda victory for Kyiv.

Ukrainian officers celebrated the blast on the time however didn’t make a transparent declare of duty.

It passed off the day after Russian chief Vladimir Putin turned 70, and Ukraine’s Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council Oleksiy Danilov printed a video of the bridge in flames alongside a video of Marilyn Monroe singing Happy Birthday, Mister President.

Among different responses, the Ukrainian navy posted on Facebook, “Air defence of the Russian Federation, are you sleeping?” alongside a video exhibiting a piece of the bridge’s highway that had been utterly destroyed.

This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows damage to the Kerch Bridge, which connects the Crimean Peninsula with Russia crossing a strait between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, and rail cars on fire on Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022. (Maxar Technologies via AP) — This satellite tv for pc picture supplied by Maxar Technologies reveals harm to the Kerch Bridge, in October 2022. (Maxar Technologies through AP) (AP)

Maliar’s publish on Sunday caught the eye of Russian state media and officers. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova as soon as once more known as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s authorities a “terrorist regime” in an internet assertion condemning the assault.

Russian-installed authorities within the Crimean peninsula on Sunday reported capturing down a cruise missile close to the town of Kerch and briefly suspending visitors on the bridge.

The Moscow-appointed governor of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, mentioned the interception of the missile by Russian air defences did not end in any harm or casualties. He did not supply any particulars, together with the kind of the missile and its origin.

In the close by Russian area of Rostov, authorities on Sunday additionally reported capturing down a missile.

Governor Vasily Golubev mentioned the missile was Ukrainian, and its particles broken the roofs of a number of buildings. No casualties have been reported.

Major flooding from Ukraine dam breach captured by satellites

Such assaults far past the entrance line on Russian areas on the border with Ukraine or the annexed Crimean peninsula have grow to be widespread throughout the warfare in Ukraine that has simply surpassed its 500-day mark.

Officials in Russian areas and Moscow-appointed authorities in Crimea, which was illegally annexed in 2014, have recurrently reported explosions, drone strikes, and even cross-border raids by Ukrainian saboteurs. Kyiv has by no means brazenly taken duty for these assaults.

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Source: www.9news.com.au