Car bomb sparks huge fire on Crimea bridge, celebrations in Ukraine

A car bomb blast on a key road and rail bridge linking Crimea to Russia has sparked a massive fire, prompting gleeful messages from Ukrainian officials but no direct claim of responsibility. 

Russia said the blast set ablaze seven oil tankers by transported by train and collapsed two car lanes of the giant road and rail structure.

Dramatic social media footage showed the bridge on fire with parts plunging into the sea.

“Today at 6:07 am (0307 GMT) on the road traffic side of the Crimean bridge … a car bomb exploded, setting fire to seven oil tankers being carried by rail to Crimea,” Russia’s national anti-terrorism committee said on Saturday.

Shortly after initial conflicting reports about damages inflicted on the bridge connecting Russian mainland to the Crimea peninsula, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak declared in a Twitter message that the bombing was “the beginning”.

“Everything illegal must be destroyed, everything stolen must be returned to Ukraine, everything occupied by Russia must be expelled,” Podolyak wrote.

The bridge, constructed on the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was inaugurated in 2018, four years after Crimea voted in a referendum to become part of Russia following a Western-backed uprising in 2014 that ousted a pro-Moscow administration in Kiev.

Russia's foreign ministry said Ukraine's reaction to the huge blast showed Kyiv's "terrorist nature".

"The reaction of the Kiev regime to the destruction of civilian infrastructure shows its terrorist nature," the ministry's spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Telegram.

Ukraine says the bridge served as a key transport link for carrying military equipment to Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine, especially in the south.

Moscow had maintained that the bridge was safe despite the ongoing skirmishes, but threatened Kiev with reprisals if it attacked the vital transport route.

The Kremlin spokesman said Putin had ordered a commission to be set up to look into the blast, Russian news agencies reported.

Russia's powerful investigative committee opened a criminal probe into the explosion and sent detectives to the scene.

It said a truck exploded "on the automobile part of the Crimean bridge from the side of the Taman Peninsula".

This "caused seven fuel tanks to ignite on a train heading towards the Crimea Peninsula. As a result, two lanes partially collapsed."

While officials in Moscow stopped short of blaming Kiev, an official in Crimea pointed the finger at "Ukrainian vandals".

There have been several explosions at Russian military installations in the Crimean peninsula and if it is established that Ukraine was behind the latest blast, alarm bells may sound with the bridge so far from the front line.

The blasts come after Ukraine's recent lightning territorial gains in the east and south.

Russia-backed forces claim gains in eastern Ukraine

Russian forces declared that they had captured ground in eastern Donetsk region, after Kiev’s recent claims of grabbing momentum with a counter-offensive that forced a Russian withdrawal.

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Russia-backed forces in the Donetsk region said they had reclaimed a series of villages near the Ukraine-controlled industrial town of Bakhmut.

Four territories which create a crucial land corridor between Russia and the Crimean peninsula joined Moscow in a recent referendum not recognized by Ukraine and the West.

Ukraine's Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov on Friday called on Russian forces to lay down their arms, vowing that their lives would be spared and they would be safe.

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