IRIA News

A blast and fire consumed a major section of the Kerch Bridge on October 8, 2022. Kerch Bridge is the only bridge that links Russia with the Crimean Peninsula and acts as a key channel between Crimea and Russia.

The early morning blast damaged two sections of the 12 miles long bridge. It is still unclear what caused the blast as Russia did not immediately assign any blames. Ukrainian authorities also refrained from openly claiming the responsibility for the blast. However, according to some independent sources, Russian authorities believe that the blast was orchestrated through explosive material loaded in a truck.

According to Russian officials, three people have been killed during the blast. A fuel tanker train was on the bridge headed towards the Crimean Peninsula when the blast took place. At least 7 fuel tankers caught fire which made the blast much more intense engulfing a large section of the bridge into a huge fireball.

Russian Emergencies Minister Alexander Kurenkov told the state-owned news agency that the railway worker prevented the fire from spreading throughout the track as the uncoupled the seven fuel wagons after they caught fire, preventing the blaze from spreading to the remaining 52 wagons.

Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and immediately started working on the Kerch Bridge linking Russia’s transport network to Crimea. Russian President Vladimir Putin inaugurated the bridge in 2018 and personally rode across the bridge on a train.

Timing of the blast coincides with Putin’s birthday

The blast took place only one day after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s 70th birthday. Although Ukraine has not claimed the responsibility for the blast, the tweets and statements from its officials suggest that the incident was no accident. Several high-level Ukrainian officials took to social media to post taunting statements about the incident and its timing which coincided with Putin’s birthday.

The head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov posted a video of the burning bridge along with a video of Marilyn Monroe singing “Happy birthday, Mr. President.”

Ukraine’s senior presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said what happened on the bridge is just “the beginning.” Podolyak tweeted that “Everything illegal must be destroyed, everything stolen must be returned to Ukraine, everything occupied by Russia must be expelled.”

The guided missile cruiser Moskva and the Kerch Bridge – two notorious symbols of russian power in Ukrainian Crimea – have gone down.
What’s next in line, russkies?

— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) October 8, 2022

Ukrainian Defense Ministry also took to Twitter to take a jab at Russia for the bridge incident while linking it to the sinking of Russia’s guided missile cruiser Moskva which was the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet and sank in April this year. Ukrainian army claims that Moskva was hit by their Neptune anti-ship cruise missiles which led to its destruction, however, the Russian side claims that the ship sustained heavy damage due to a fire onboard that exploded internal ammunition of the warship resulting in severe damage and later caused the ship to sink before it could be towed back to the port.

Russia condemned remarks by Ukrainian officials saying that such comments testified to Kyiv’s “terrorist nature.” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, “The reaction of the Kyiv regime to the destruction of civilian infrastructure testifies to its terrorist nature.” 

Russia appoints a new commander to oversee the war in Ukraine

Ukraine is now bracing for severe retaliation from the Russian forces after the bridge incident. Russia has appointed a single commander to lead all its forces in Ukraine.

The Chief of the Russian Air Force General Sergei Surovikin was placed in charge of the Russian operations in Ukraine on October 8, 2022. He will now be responsible for reinvigorating the Russian troubled campaign in Ukraine which has already lost a substantial number of captured territories in recent weeks. Surovikin has previously led Russian forces in Syria. He headed the operations that lead to the bombardment that destroyed much of the Aleppo city.