Ukraine’s security service claims responsibility for Crimea bridge blast in October 2022
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Black smoke billowing from a fire on the Kerch Bridge that links Crimea to Russia, in October 2022.
PHOTO: AFP
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KYIV – Ukraine’s domestic intelligence agency claimed responsibility for the first time on Wednesday for a sabotage operation that badly damaged the Russian-made Kerch Bridge
Mr Vasyl Malyuk, the head of the Security Service of Ukraine, said his agency was behind the attack, speaking in comments shown on television as he presented a commemorative postage stamp marking wartime special forces operations.
“There were many different operations, special operations. We’ll be able to speak about some of them publicly and aloud after the victory, we will not talk at all about others,” Mr Malyuk said.
“It is one of our actions, namely the destruction of the Crimean bridge on Oct 8 last year.”
The bridge was badly damaged in October 2022 in a powerful blast, with Russian officials saying the explosion was caused by a truck that blew up while crossing the bridge, killing three people.
The bridge was hit by a fresh attack
The 19km-long bridge over the Kerch Strait is the only direct link between the transport network of Russia and the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine and occupied in 2014.
The bridge was a flagship project for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who opened it for road traffic with great fanfare by driving a truck across in 2018.
It served as a crucial supply route for Russian forces after Moscow invaded Ukraine on Feb 24, 2022, sending forces from Crimea to seize parts of southern Ukraine’s Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. REUTERS
