Ukraine undermined the Crimean Bridge in October last year. This was announced by Deputy Defense Minister Anna Malyar, who published on her telegraph channel a publication about Kyiv’s successes during 500 days of hostilities.
“(It’s been) 273 days since the first strike was launched on the Crimean bridge to break the logistics of the Russians,” Malyar wrote.
Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry commented Malyar’s words, calling the Ukrainian authorities a “terrorist regime”.
At the end of May, the head of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) Vasily Malyuk alluded to Kyiv’s involvement in the explosion, recalls the Ukrainian edition of Strana.ua. Then he said that Ukraine had organized “certain events” on the Crimean bridge.
“Since this was a logistics route that we were forced to cut off from the enemy, some of these measures were taken. They are qualified there (in Russia) in their own way, as a terrorist attack. They imprisoned more than 20 of their fellow citizens, each of them is accused of a certain complicity,†the SBU boss said at the time.
Explosion on the Crimean Bridge
The explosion on the Crimean bridge occurred on October 8, 2022. According to investigators, a truck exploded, after which the fuel tanks of the train caught fire. Two rows of cars collapsed, several people were killed.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said the executors and clients of the weakening of the bridge were Ukraine’s special services. According to Putin, it was “a terrorist attack aimed at destroying Russia’s essential civilian infrastructure”.
In Kyiv, they did not officially confirm their involvement in the incident. At the end of October, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed that Kyiv “did not order” the explosion of the Crimean bridge.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said in October that the organizer of the explosion was the Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry, its head Kirill Budanov, employees and department officers.
In February, the Investigative Committee announced that the version of the involvement in the explosion on the Crimean bridge of the Ukrainian special services had been confirmed. Investigative committee chairman Alexander Bastrykin said 12 people directly linked to the blast had already been identified. Among them are Ukrainian, Armenian, Georgian and Russian citizens, eight of whom are in custody, Bastrykin said.
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