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Two people have reportedly been killed in an “emergency” on the enormous bridge connecting the Russian mainland to Crimea.
Civilians are being told not to use the bridge following reports of explosions. The Kerch bridge is known to be a source of great pride to Vladimir Putin and key to resupplying his military.
The region’s governor Vyacheslav Gladkov claimed via Telegram that two people, a mother and a father, were killed in the incident, with their daughter being left injured.
He wrote on Telegram: “This morning we all started with information about the emergency that happened on the Crimean bridge. We all saw a video on the internet of a damaged car with Belgorod number plates
“The girl was injured, moderately injured … The hardest thing is that her parents died, dad and mom.”
Russia’s Ministry of Transport confirmed the road near the Crimean end of the bridge has been damaged. However, when it came specifically to reports of pillars supporting the bridge being damaged, they did not confirm.
According to a Telegram channel associated with Russia’s shady Wagner Group (who last month launched what appeared to be a coup against Vladimir Putin), reported that there had been two strikes on the bridge at 03.04 am (00.04am GMT) and 03.20 am, according to Reuters.
The account claimed the bridge was damaged by an underwater drone sent by Ukraine.
The incident on the Crimea Bridge could be an act of provocation by Moscow according to Natalia Humeniuk, the spokesperson for Ukraine’s southern military command, has said according to Reuters.
She said: “The creation of such provocations, which the occupying authorities of Crimea report immediately very loudly, is a typical way of solving problems by authorities of Crimea and the aggressor country”.
It is the second major incident on the Kerch bridge in the past year, after the bridge was partially closed last October following a major explosion.
Writing on Telegram, Sergey Aksyonov, the head of the Russian administration in Crimea, said: “Traffic was stopped on the Crimean bridge. An emergency occurred in the area of the 145th support from the [Russia side of the bridge].
“Measures are being taken to restore the situation. I ask residents and guests of the peninsula to refrain from traveling through the Crimean bridge and, for security reasons, choose an alternative land route through new regions.”
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