
Ukraine attacked Crimean bridge with surface drones, Russia says
- The parents of a girl were killed and their daughter was injured in a passenger car on the Crimea Bridge early on Monday, according to the Belgorod region governor
- In October, the bridge – which was personally inaugurated by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2018 – was partially destroyed in a blast that killed three people
Ukraine attacked the Crimean bridge overnight using unmanned drones on the water surface, Russia’s Anti-Terrorist Committee said on Monday, according to state media.
Russia’s Investigative Committee said in a statement that Ukrainian “special services” were responsible for the attack, and that it had opened a criminal investigation.
The Crimea Bridge, a key supply line for Russian troops in Ukraine, was damaged in an “emergency” situation which killed two people and injured a child, Russian officials said on Monday, while Ukrainian media reported blasts on the bridge.
Traffic was stopped from using the Russian-built bridge linking Russia to Crimea, which Moscow seized in 2014, said Russian officials.
Train services later resumed across the bridge, state-run Tass news service reported, citing Russia’s Transport Ministry. Ferries would also be used to transport trucks between the peninsula and Russia, according to local officials.
The 19km (12-mile) road and rail bridge has been a pride infrastructure project of President Vladimir Putin, who drove a Mercedes across the bridge in 2022 after it was repaired following an explosion.

Sergei Aksyonov, a Russia-installed governor, said the emergency occurred on the 145th pillar of the bridge which links the Crimean peninsula to the Russian region of Krasnodar. He did not provide any further details.
State television showed part of the roadway had buckled after the explosions on the 19km bridge connecting Russia to Crimea across the Kerch Strait, which were the most serious since a massive blast in October.
Russia’s Grey Zone channel, a heavily followed Telegram channel affiliated with the Wagner mercenary group, reported that there were two strikes on the bridge at 3.04am and 3.20am.
The parents of a girl were killed and their daughter was injured in a passenger car on the bridge early on Monday, said Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of the Belgorod region in southern Russia. He did not say how the people were killed.
The girl who was injured in the incident on the bridge is in intensive care in a hospital in the Russian city of Temryuk, RIA Novosti quoted the hospital’s representatives as saying on Monday.
The damage was reported after the Russian Defence Ministry said on Sunday that it had destroyed seven drones and two underwater vehicles in Crimea, accusing Ukraine of a “terrorist attack.”

There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.
George Barros, an analyst at the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War, said on Twitter that if the bridge was seriously damaged it would significantly impact Russian supply lines.
“Russia will only have one ground supply line – the coastal highway on the Sea of Azov – to sustain [or evacuate] its tens of thousands of troops in occupied Kherson & Crimea if UKR manages to degrade/destroy the bridge,” said Barros.
The explosions took place hours before Russia announced it was terminating a deal permitting Black Sea grain exports from Ukraine that was brokered by the United Nations and Turkey.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the decision was unrelated to the bridge incident. Russia indicated last week that it was likely to withdraw from the agreement.
Putin’s showcase
The Crimean Bridge was damaged by an explosion last October, in an attack that the Kremlin said had been orchestrated by Ukrainian security forces. Ukraine admitted only indirectly to the attack months later.
Putin’s ally Arkady Rotenberg’s company built the vast structure, which is Europe’s longest bridge. Putin has long lauded the project, boasting at one point that Russian Tsars and Soviet leaders had dreamed of building it but never did.
The Crimean peninsula has been a major and cherished holiday destination for Russians, especially after Moscow launched its invasion on Ukraine in 2022 and travelling to the West became more difficult for many Russians.
In recent weeks, traffic jams to the entrance of the bridge went for kilometres on daily basis as Russians went on holidays.
On Monday morning the traffic jam ran for kilometres before police directed vehicles away from the bridge. Social media accounts showed cars lined up on the bridge and its entrance.
The Russian-backed administration of the Crimean peninsula urged residents not to travel via the bridge.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse, Bloomberg

