The Crimean bridge was rocked by a violent explosion. Vladimir Putin’s prestige object has been on fire since early Saturday morning. While both the Russians are already putting forward several theories as to how this came about, the first military experts and officials are also assessing the situation.
The images went viral on social media on Saturday morning. At around 6 a.m., a violent explosion is said to have occurred on the bridge connecting Russia’s annexed Crimea peninsula to the Russian mainland. The pictures and videos not only showed the burning bridge, part even broke off and is in the water. In the meantime, the bridge should no longer burn, as new recordings show. But these also show how destroyed part of the Crimean Bridge is.
The exact reasons? So far unclear. According to Crimean Railways, a Russian state-owned company, a fuel tank on a freight train exploded while it was crossing the bridge. The Russian Anti-Terrorism Committee, in turn, said that a truck had exploded on the bridge. And immediately linked this truck to the Ukrainian secret service. The Ukrainian side has not yet issued a clear statement on the incident. So far there have been no reports of injuries or deaths. Security camera footage shows that the truck theory might not be that far-fetched. But that doesn’t answer who is behind it.
The bridge is an extremely important strategic point for the Russians and also enormously prestigious. Putin himself opened the bridge in 2018 by driving a truck over it. For the Kremlin, the bridge symbolizes the areas annexed in 2014. It is also an important supply route and crosses the Kerch Strait, a strait. According to the Russian news agency Tass, shipping in the area was not affected by the incident.
Who was it? Even military experts and military officials have not yet been able to answer this question. However, some dare to make the first assessments of the explosion and the fire. BBC correspondent Paul Adams quotes a former British Army demolitions expert as saying: “This is a masterpiece of secret sabotage.”
And ex-Australian general Mick Ryan explains his first impressions on Twitter.
Ryan concludes that the Russians now face a “significant problem”. Because even if the supplies to the Crimea are not completely cut off, the incident makes it all the more difficult to hold the occupied city of Melitopol.
And even if it wasn’t the Ukrainians in the end, Ryan has a “massive victory” on paper. Because: “It is a demonstration for the Russians and the rest of the world that Russia’s military cannot protect any of the recently annexed provinces.”
