Putin accuses Ukraine of Crimea bridge blast; calls it ‘terrorism’

KYIV — Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine of orchestrating what he known as a terrorist assault on a key bridge linking Russia and Crimea, as he ready to carry a gathering of his safety council on Monday amid requires reprisals.

A blast on Saturday on the bridge over the Kerch Strait, a significant provide route for Moscow’s forces in southern Ukraine, prompted gleeful messages from Ukrainian officers however no declare of accountability.

“There isn’t a doubt. That is an act of terrorism geared toward destroying critically necessary civilian infrastructure,” Putin stated on Sunday in a video on the Kremlin’s Telegram channel.

“This was devised, carried out and ordered by the Ukrainian particular companies.”

Safety Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev stated forward of Monday’s assembly that Russia ought to kill the “terrorists” chargeable for the assault.

“Russia can solely reply to this crime by immediately killing terrorists, as is the customized elsewhere on the earth. That is what Russian residents anticipate,” he was quoted as saying by state information company Tass.

The bridge is an important artery for the port of Sevastopol, the place the Russian Black Sea fleet relies, in addition to an imposing image of Russia’s 2014 annexation of the Crimean peninsula.

The injury to the bridge got here amid battlefield defeats for Russia and preliminary reviews from Ukrainian officers of a mass burial website found within the not too long ago liberated japanese city of Lyman.

Putin’s anger over the suspected assault additionally coincided with rising issues that Moscow may resort to nuclear weapons, after Putin repeatedly cautioned the West that any assault on Russia may provoke a nuclear response.

Putin on Sunday met Alexander Bastrykin, the pinnacle of Russia’s Investigative Committee, who introduced findings of an inquiry into what he stated was the explosion of a car and subsequent fireplace on the bridge.

Bastrykin stated the car had traveled by Bulgaria, Georgia, Armenia, North Ossetia and Russia’s Krasnodar area earlier than reaching the bridge. Amongst those that helped Ukrainian particular companies put together have been “residents of Russia and overseas international locations,” Bastrykin added within the video on the Kremlin’s Telegram channel.

Oleksandr Kovalenko, a army analyst and head of the web site Data Resistance, advised Espreso TV web site, a digital broadcaster well-known in Ukraine, that Russia could intensify assaults on civilian targets after the explosion on the Crimea bridge.

“This in all probability means missile assaults on border areas – Sumy and Chernihiv areas. It may additionally imply utilizing missiles and (Iranian-made) Shahed-136 drones to hit even deeper into Ukrainian territory,” he stated.

Photographs confirmed a part of the bridge’s highway blown away, though rail companies and partial highway site visitors resumed.

The Russian transport ministry, quoted by RIA information company, stated practically 1,500 folks and 162 heavy cargoes had traveled by ferry throughout the Kerch Strait for the reason that explosion.

Putin opened the 19-km (12-mile) bridge linking Crimea to Russia with nice fanfare in 2018.

Russia’s protection ministry stated on Saturday its forces in southern Ukraine could possibly be “absolutely equipped” by current land and sea routes.

FRESH ATTACK ON ZAPORIZHZHIA

In southern Ukraine, Russian shelling in a single day destroyed an condo constructing within the metropolis of Zaporizhzhia, inflicting accidents, regional Governor Oleksandr Starukh stated early on Monday.

The pre-dawn strikes have been the third such assault in opposition to the area in 4 days.

“As soon as once more, the crucial infrastructure of town and the properties of peaceable civilians have been affected,” Ukraine’s basic workers stated in an announcement on Monday, including Russia used seven anti-aircraft guided missiles within the assault.

A strike on an condo within the metropolis on Sunday killed at the least 13 folks and injured 87 others, together with 10 youngsters, in response to Ukrainian officers.

Russian plane launched at the least 12 missiles in Sunday’s assault, partially destroying a nine-story condo block, leveling 5 different residential buildings and damaging many extra, Starukh stated on state-run tv.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy condemned the assault as “absolute evil.”

“This was a deliberate hit. Whoever gave the order and whoever carried it out knew what they have been focusing on,” he stated in a video deal with.

Zaporizhzhia metropolis, about 52 km (30 miles) from a Russian-held nuclear energy plant, has been underneath frequent shelling in latest weeks, with 19 folks killed on Thursday.

Russia denies focusing on civilians and Vladimir Rogov, an official within the Russian-installed administration in Zaporizhzhia, stated Ukrainian forces had shelled town for “propaganda functions.”

Many of the Zaporizhzhia area, together with the nuclear plant, have been underneath Russian management for the reason that early days of Russia’s invasion in February. The capital of the area, Zaporizhzhia metropolis, stays underneath Ukrainian management.

U.S. TO CONTINUE ARMING UKRAINE

The White Home on Sunday declined to touch upon the bridge blast however stated america would proceed to arm Ukraine.

Kyiv calls for that Russian forces depart the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, in addition to Ukrainian territory they’ve seized within the invasion Putin launched in February.

Ukraine has recaptured greater than 1,170 sq. kilometers (450 sq. miles) of land in its southern Kherson area since launching its counterattack in late August, a army spokesperson stated on Sunday.

(Reporting by Max Hunder, Jonathan Landay in Kyiv, Sergiy Chalyi in Zaporizhzhia, Ron Popeski and Reuters bureaux; Writing by Humeyra Pamuk and Stephen Coates; Modifying by Michael Perry & Simon Cameron-Moore)