The governor of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, has reported a “emergency” on the Kerch bridge after hearing at least two explosions and subsequently detecting damage to the road. At least two resident citizens of this province have died. The victims are a couple and her daughter, who suffered “moderate” injuries.

“Traffic was suspended on the Crimean bridge: an emergency occurred in the area of ​​support (pillar) 145 of the Krasnodar Territory,” said the governor, Sergei Axiónov, on his Telegram channel.

The Russian Ministry of Transport has acknowledged that there is “damage to the road in the sections of the Crimean bridge”, which links the occupied peninsula with Russia, but that the pillars are intact, according to the ‘TASS’ agency. Media such as the Telegram channel Astra have instead reported that a section of the bridge has fallen after hearing at least two explosions, according to residents.

The events have made it necessary to suspend not only automobile traffic, but also rail and ferry transport. Train traffic should resume around 06:00 GMT, Axiónov said.

The governor has asked Crimeans and Russian tourists, who are traveling en masse to the peninsula for the summer this July, to remain calm and trust only official information. “Given the current situation, I ask the residents and guests of the peninsula to refrain from traveling over the Crimean bridge and, for security reasons, choose an alternative land route through new regions,” annexed by Russia last September. , he has insisted.

Russian researchers have already gone to the place to start investigations into what happened. Russia is still not talking about an attack on infrastructurewhose construction was the jewel in the crown of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who inaugurated the automobile section in 2018 and the railway section in 2019.

In October last year, a truck full of explosives exploded on the bridge, considered the longest in Europe with its 19 kilometers, which was described by Russia as a terrorist attack organized by Ukraine. Five people died in the attack.

Ukraine says it is “an unnecessary construction”

After what happened, a spokesman for Ukraine’s military intelligence (GUR) has said that the damaged infrastructure “is an unnecessary construction.” “We can only quote the words of the head of the GUR, Kirilo Budanov: the Crimean bridge is an unnecessary construction,” the representative of Kiev’s military intelligence Andri Yusov said on Ukrainian public television.

The truth is that the bridge was illegally built by Russia after it annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea. Ukraine has repeatedly denounced that Russia uses Crimea as a “military base” to launch its attacks against the rest of the Ukrainian territory.