Kerch bridge linking Russia to Crimea damaged in explosion
Al JazeeraAuthorities say three dead as Russia opens a criminal probe into the blast that blew up the vital bridge linking Moscow-annexed Crimea to the mainland. A key bridge linking the Crimean peninsula with mainland Russia has been partially destroyed in a truck explosion, Russian media reported, putting at risk a key supply route for Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine. The speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament, the Duma, called it “an act of war” as the country’s investigative committee said on Saturday it had “initiated a criminal case in connection with the incident on the Crimean bridge,” adding that “a truck was blown up”. “As a result, two lanes partially collapsed.” Three people have been found dead so far as the result of the truck explosion, Russia’s Investigative Committee said. “It also gives the Russians a very big headache when it comes to supplying their southern front in Ukraine because the army … at the moment is largely supplied by rail networks and that main railway network for the southern front came through Crimea across the Kerch bridge,” Challands said.