Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused Ukraine of destroying the Kerch bridge, a key link between Russia and Crimea, in an explosion and called it an โact of terrorismโ.
The strategic bridge was partly damaged in a โtruck bombโ explosion on October 8, killing three people, setting several oil tankers on fire and collapsing two car lanes, as per Russian officials.
The explosion halted a viral supply route for Russian armed forces that have launched a renewed offensive to gain control of the territories reclaimed by Ukrainian forces. Road and rail traffic on the 19-km bridge was temporarily stopped and resumed within 12 hours.
โThere is no doubt here, asย you have just reported, that it was aย terrorist act aimed atย destroying critical civilian infrastructure ofย theย Russian Federation,โ Putin said during an interaction with Alexander Bastrykin, the chairman of the committee investigating the explosion.
The Russian president further said that the Ukrainian special services were theย initiators, performers andย masterminds behind the explosion.
While briefing the president on the preliminary investigation results, Bastrykin said that the committee has established the route of the truck and identified theย persons who took part inย arranging its movements.
โTheย FSS field agents helped toย identify suspects from among those who could have arranged theย terrorist act andย those who are active within theย Russian Federation,โ the investigator told Putin.
Bastrykin further said that the Russian investigators were trying to establish the exact purposes and tasks of the explosion.
โIt is anย act ofย terrorism. All our preliminary investigation data allow us toย come toย anย unequivocal conclusionย โ this was aย terrorist act which had been prepared byย Ukrainian special services with theย aim ofย destroying aย large civil infrastructure facility ofย crucial importance toย theย Russian Federation, especially toย Crimea.โ
He also said that some citizens of Russia and other countries assisted the Ukrainian special forces to carry out the explosion.
President Putin is scheduled to convene a meeting of Russiaโs security council on Monday. Earlier, deputy chairman of the council, Dmitry Medvedev said that Moscow should kill the โterroristsโ responsible for the attack.
Medvedev, who has served as the Russian president and prime minister, reportedly said: โRussia can only respond to this crime by directly killing terrorists, as is the custom elsewhere in the world. This is what Russian citizens expect.โ
Following the attack, Russia has stepped up the security of the key infrastructure, including the Kerch bridge and the mainย gas pipeline from theย southern Russian city ofย Krasnodar to the Crimea Peninsula.
