Filmed and released on October 8, 2022, this video capture shows thick black smoke rising from the fire on the Kerch Bridge, which connects Crimea with Russia.
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Russian authorities reported on Saturday that a massive fire broke out on the only bridge linking mainland Russia with the occupied Crimean peninsula.
Russian state media, citing the National Counter-Terrorism Commission, said a truck exploded on the road traffic side of the Kerch Bridge at 6:07 a.m. local time and partially collapsed the road. Three people were killed in the explosion, according to Russian authorities.
The fire set fire to seven oil tankers being transported by rail to the Crimea, and thick black smoke was seen rising into the sky.
Black smoke rises from the fire on the Kerch Bridge, which connects Crimea with Russia, after a truck explodes near Kerch on October 8, 2022.
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The Kerch Bridge, also known as the Crimean Bridge, is one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s acclaimed projects. It was built on his orders shortly after the Kremlin annexed Crimea in 2014 to support Moscow’s territorial claims.
A symbol of hatred for Ukrainians, the 19 km (12 miles) junction is a pair of road and rail bridges across the Kerch Strait that Russia uses to move military equipment into Ukraine.
A surveillance video footage shows flames and smoke rising after an explosion at the Kerch Bridge in the Kerch Strait, Crimea, on October 8, 2022.
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The reported truck explosions occurred the day after Putin’s 70th birthday, and after months of humiliating setbacks in recent weeks by the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Photos and videos shared on social media showed the size of the fire and damage.
CNBC was unable to independently verify the authenticity of these reports and images.
‘Cream, leg, start’
Vladimir Konstantinov, chairman of the Crimean Regional Parliament, blamed the “Ukrainian vandals who finally reached out their bloody hands on the Crimean bridge”, the BBC reported.
Mikhail Podolyak, adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said it was too early to assert Kyiv to blame, but said the damage was “the beginning”.
“Crimea, the bridge, the beginning,” Podoljak tweeted. “Everything illegal must be destroyed, everything stolen must be returned to Ukraine, and everything occupied by Russia must be expelled,” Podoljak tweeted.
Meanwhile, the official Twitter account of the Ukrainian government appears to have responded to the incident with a post titled “Burn”.
People pose for a photo in front of a postage stamp showing the impressions of artists on the burning Kerch Bridge in Kyiv, central Ukraine, on October 8, 2022.
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Russian media reported that traffic was under control as a result of the accident, and emergency services and road service personnel are working on the scene to extinguish the fire.
Russian side aide Oleg Kryuchko said: “Preliminary information indicates that the fuel storage tank caught fire … the navigable arch was not damaged. It is too early to talk about cause and effect. Fire fighting is underway. in progress,” he said. According to TASS news agency, the head of the occupation of Crimea said via Telegram.
The incident came just hours after Russia focused its latest attack on an illegally annexed region of Ukraine.
In what the West described as a bogus referendum, Putin declared “four new regions of Russia” when Moscow annexed Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizia and Kherson regions at the end of last month.
Kyiv told Russia that it would not stop fighting until all lost lands were reclaimed.
Meanwhile, Moscow argued that it had the “right” to use nuclear weapons to protect its territory and its citizens, even if it felt an existential threat or was attacked by conventional weapons.
—The Associated Press contributed to this report.