Russian President Vladimir Putin called on Monday to strengthen security measures on the Crimean Bridge, strategic infrastructure damaged for the second time by a Ukrainian attack for which he promised a “response”. “Given that this is the second terrorist attack on the Crimean Bridge, I await concrete proposals to improve the security of this important and strategic transport infrastructure,” Putin told a meeting. government broadcast on television.
According to Mr. Putin, a girl was injured and both her parents killed in this Ukrainian attack carried out on this bridge connecting Russia with the Crimea, a peninsula annexed in 2014. “The family was traveling to Crimea from the (Russian) region of Belgorod “said the president. “There will of course be a response from Russia. The Ministry of Defense is preparing suitable proposals,” Putin said.
The attack caused extensive damage to the road section of the structure, which is also used to transport military equipment to the Russian army fighting in Ukraine. It was carried out by Ukrainian special services and naval forces using “naval drones”, a source in the Ukrainian security services (SBU) told AFP on Monday.
“What happened is another terrorist act by the kyiv regime,” Putin said. The 18-kilometre-long concrete bridge, built at great expense on the orders of Vladimir Putin and which he inaugurated in 2018, consists of two parallel structures, one reserved for road traffic and the other for rail traffic. According to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin, the supporting structures of the Crimean Bridge were not damaged by the explosion, which Mr Putin called “good news”. Khousnoulline said he plans to fully reopen road traffic on the bridge by November 1.
