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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Charlie Jones

Ukraine taunts Russia with 'what's next?' jibe and says bridge blast was 'beginning'

Ukraine defence officials have taunted Russia after a key bridge connecting Crimea to mainland Russia was badly damaged in an explosion.

Ukraine have not claimed direct responsibility for the attack that destroyed a section of Kerch Bridge and led to an oil tanker on a passing train also catching fire.

Crimean officials confirmed road and rail travel across the bridge has been suspended, but said a ferry service has been set up. Initial reports from Russia suggested the explosion came from a vehicle.

In a message posted on Twitter by the official page of Ukraine's Ministry of Defense, a spokesperson poked fun at two symbolic losses Russia has experienced in the Black Sea; first the warship the Moskva and now the bridge.

Picture released by Security Service of Ukraine shows the damage to the key bridge linking Crimea to Russia, near Kerch (SECURITY SERVICE OF UKRAINE/AFP)

They said: "The guided missile cruiser Moskva and the Kerch Bridge – two notorious symbols of russian power in Ukrainian Crimea – have gone down.

"What’s next in line, russkies?"

The Moskva was the flagship of Russia's Black Sea fleet, which sunk in April this year. Kyiv claimed Ukrainian forces hit it with missiles while Russia claimed it was destroyed in an accident.

A screen grab from a surveillance footage shows flames and smoke rising up after the explosion (Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Crimea was annexed by Russia in 2014, but there was no land route connecting it to mainland Russia until the bridge was completed in 2018.

It was hailed by Vladimir Putin as a symbol that Crimea was Russian, and has been used to transport military supplies and troops throughout the war.

Sharing a picture of the damaged bridge, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Mykhailo Podolyak said: "Crimea, the bridge, the beginning.

A view shows a fire on the Kerch bridge at sunrise (REUTERS)

"Everything illegal must be destroyed, everything stolen must be returned to Ukraine, everything occupied by Russia must be expelled.".

Russian officials have been quick to put the blame on Ukraine as well.

The president of the Crimean Council of State, Vladimir Konstantinov, wrote: "Ukrainian vandals have come to the Crimean bridge with their blood-stained hands," he wrote on his Telegram account.

A helicopter drops water to extinguish the blaze (REUTERS)

Russia's National Anti-Terrorism Committee (NAC) said: "At 06:07 Moscow time today [03:07 GMT], an explosion was set off at a cargo vehicle on the motorway part of the Crimean bridge on the side of the Taman peninsula, which set fire to seven fuel tanks of a train that was en route to the Crimean peninsula.

"Two motorway sections of the bridge partially collapsed."

The bridge, which at 19km is the longest in Europe, was hailed by Russian state media as "the construction of the century". Costing £2.7bn, Russia claimed it was protected from threats from air, land and water using a range of defences even including specially trained dolphins.

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