Ukraine MP Calls Crimea Bridge Explosion 'Huge Success'

A member of the Ukrainian parliament has said the damage inflicted on a Crimean bridge on Monday morning is a "huge success" for Ukraine.

"Everyone involved in this should be presented with the highest state awards," Oleksiy Goncharenko said in a post on his Telegram channel, shortly after blasts were reported on the strategically vital Kerch Strait Bridge, which connects Russia with Crimea.

Russia's Transport Ministry said Monday that "there is damage to the roadway on spans of the Crimean Bridge." Several Telegram channels, including Shot, Baza, and Astra, published unverified pictures and videos of the destruction, showing the collapse of part of the bridge and damaged vehicles.

Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of Russia's Belgorod region which borders Ukraine, said that a man and a woman from the the region's Novooskolsky district died in an "emergency" on the Crimean bridge, and that their daughter was injured.

The Kerch Strait Bridge is a key supply route for Russia's forces and is Russia's sole land link with the Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula illegally annexed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2014.

Ukraine has denied responsibility for Monday morning's attack. A spokesperson for Ukraine's southern military command, Natalia Humeniuk, said the incident could be an act of provocation from Russia.

At the same time, Ukrainian media outlet Ukrainska Pravda cited an unnamed source in Ukraine's Security Service as saying that the attack on the Crimean bridge was a special operation by the Security Service of Ukraine and Naval Forces.

Russia's Foreign Ministry accused Ukraine of being behind the attack, and suggested the U.S. and U.K. were involved. Dmitry Medvedev, a former president of Russia, called for the elimination of "the top leadership of terrorist formations."

Newsweek has contacted the foreign ministries of Ukraine and Russia for comment.

Goncharenko said on Telegram that the attack on the bridge "is a demonstration to the West that we are ready to take back our territories, and as soon as we have the necessary equipment for this, we show the best results."

"This is an answer to all the skeptics who say that we do not have a good counteroffensive," he wrote.

The road and rail bridge, built after Russia's annexation of Crimea, was previously damaged in an explosion in October 2022.

Ukraine kickstarted its counteroffensive in early June to reclaim territory seized by Russian forces throughout the course of the 16-month old war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged earlier this month that his forces are advancing slowly, but said his forces "have the initiative now."

Last summer, Zelensky pledged to reverse Russia's annexation of Crimea. Extensive fortifications were spotted along Crimea's coast and the Russian Sevastopol naval base ahead of Kyiv's counteroffensive.

Goncharenko suggested that the attack on the Kerch bridge "shows the changing strategy of the Defense Forces in the counteroffensive."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin will speak on the matter later on Monday.

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