Two dead and a child injured in Crimea bridge drone attack

Two parents have been killed in an alleged drone attack on key bridge used for transporting supplies to Russian soldiers in Ukraine.

A mother and father have died in an alleged drone attack on the bridge linking Crimea to the Russian mainland, according to the Russian Investigative Committee.

The parents were killed and their daughter, who was travelling in the same car, was injured when two drones hit the bridge early on Monday (local time), Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.

The daughter, whose age is not yet known, sustained “wounds of medium severity”, he said.

Moscow has blamed the “Kyiv regime” and called it a “terrorist attack.” The family is believed to have been returning from a holiday.

It comes after traffic along the Russian-built bridge has been halted following the attack, with officials advising holidaymakers to return to Russia.

The bridge to Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014, serves as a vital link for transporting supplies to Russian soldiers in Ukraine.

“Traffic was stopped on the Crimean bridge: an emergency occurred in the area of the 145th pillar from the Krasnodar Territory,” Russia-installed governor of Crimea Sergei Aksyonov wrote on Telegram.

The roadway on the Crimea side of the bridge had been “damaged”, Russia’s transport ministry said on Telegram, without giving details on what caused the damage. Pictures of the bridge show sections that are missing and twisted, sloping downwards into the sea. The cause has not yet be confirmed but there have been reports it was caused by a blast.

Crimea's Kerch Bridge has been attacked, with two people reported to be deceased. Picture: Twitter/jaanikamerilo.

“Law enforcement agencies and all relevant services are working... measures are being taken to handle the situation,” Aksyonov, said.

He did not provide any other details.

Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency quoted the authorities in Krasnodar as saying traffic was backed up to around 3 kilometres from the entrance of the bridge, without specifying which side.

There is an “emergency” unfolding on the Kerch Bride, that links Russia and Crimea. Picture: AFP

One minor was injured in the “emergency” on the bridge, Krasnodar authorities cited the local health ministry as saying.

Pro-military bloggers and Russian media reported two explosions hit the bridge early Monday.

AFP could not immediately confirm the reports.

Ferry services between the Crimea and Kuban had been stopped, Russia’s TASS news agency cited local Krasnodar authorities as saying.

The movement of trains to the Crimea “may be changed” due to the emergency, the Grand Service Express said, according to TASS.

All tourists currently in Crimea should stay in their lodgings if possible, Oleg Kryuchkov, advisor to the Crimea governor said.

The Russian-built Kerch bridge linking mainland Russia and Moscow-annexed Crimea was damaged in a blast last October. Picture: AFP

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. Moscow blamed Kyiv for the attack.

Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 after a referendum widely regarded as a sham by Kyiv and Western countries.

The peninsula has been regularly hit by strikes and attacks targeting Russian-installed officials over recent months that Moscow has blamed on Kyiv.

Social media users speculated it could take several months to repair the bridge.

‘WEAKEST LINK’: SHOCK NEW PUTIN INVASION THREAT

Russia is threatening to use the Wagner mercenary army to invade NATO’s “weakest link” in Poland and Lithuania, a top Putin parliamentarian has claimed.

In a move that could trigger a global conflict, the mercenary group is ready to strike a key NATO passage in “a matter of hours”, according to Reservist Colonel General Andrey Kartapolov.

The Suwalki Corridor is a strip of land on the border between Poland and Lithuania and has massive strategic importance for Russia, The Sun reports.

The Wagner coup attempt exposed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s weakening power. Picture: AFP

For the West, it is the only land link to Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, which are seen as vulnerable to Russian President Vladmir Putin if current tensions worsen.

If Russia gained control of the corridor it would provide a land link between Kaliningrad, the main base of Mr Putin’s Baltic Fleet, and firm Kremlin ally Belarus.

Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko. Picture: AFP

Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin. Picture: AFP

The MP, who is the loyalist chairman of the Russian parliament defence committee, told state TV: “It is clear that Wagner went to Belarus to train the Belarusian armed forces…

“There is such a place as the Suwalki Corridor.

“Should anything happen, we need this Suwalki Corridor very much…

“A strike force (based in Wagner forces in Belarus) is ready to take this corridor in a matter of hours.”

Thousands of Wagner troops have arrived in Belarus in recent days, The Sun reports.

The leader of the Wagner group, Yevgeny Prigozhin staged an apparent failed insurrection last month, sending an armoured convoy towards Moscow.

The billionaire warlord was later exiled to Belarus after exposing Mr Putin’s weakening grip on power.

PUTIN DECLARES UKRAINE COUNTEROFFENSIVE A FAILURE

Ukraine said fighting had “intensified” on the eastern front on Sunday as Mr Putin deemed Kyiv’s counteroffensive a failure.

Forces were on the defensive against Russian assaults near the eastern city of Kupiansk, Ukraine said while noting gradual progress near the hotspot city of Bakhmut.

“For two days in a row, the enemy has been actively attacking in the Kupiansk sector in the Kharkiv region. We are on the defence,” Deputy Defence Minister Ganna Malyar said.

Ukrainian servicemen of 22nd mechanised brigade operate at a recaptured position near Klyshchiivka village, south of Bakhmut, Donetsk region. Picture: AFP

“Fierce battles are going on, and positions … change several times a day,” she added.

Ukraine last month began its highly anticipated fightback after stockpiling Western weapons and building up its offensive forces.

Ukraine has however admitted difficult battles and called on the United States and other allies to provide long-range weapons and artillery.

“There is a daily advance on the southern flank around Bakhmut. On the northern flank, we are trying to hold our positions, the enemy is attacking,” she said.

Ukrainian artillerymen load missiles onto a self-propelled 122mm multiple rocket launcher BM-21 "Grad" near Bakhmut. Picture: Anatolii Stepanov / AFP

The city was once home to 70,000 people and known for its sparkling wine and salt mine, but has been destroyed by the longest and bloodiest battle of the war.

“In Bakhmut itself, we are shelling the enemy, and the enemy is shelling us,” Ms Malyar said.

On Friday Ukraine said it had over the past week advanced nearly two kilometres around the southern city of Melitopol, occupied by Russia shortly after the war began.

However, in a televised interview broadcasted on Sunday, Mr Putin said the Ukrainian military made no progress.

Footage shows Ukrainian soldiers advancing on Russian positions in Bakhmut. Picture: Twitter

“All enemy attempts to break through our defences … they have not succeeded since the offensive began. The enemy is not successful,” he said.

On Tuesday the Russian army said it advanced 1.5 kilometres near the town of Lyman in eastern Ukraine.

In the televised interview, Mr Putin said he “positively” assessed the course of his special military operation.

MOSCOW MULLS GRAIN DEAL

It comes as Mr Putin is yet to decide if Russia will renew the deal under which Moscow allowed Ukraine to ship its grain across the Black Sea.

Set to expire late Monday, the deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey, signed by Moscow and Kyiv in July 2022, established a protected sea corridor allowing Ukraine’s agricultural goods to reach global markets.

French Dairy firm Danone's Russian plant near Chekhov, outside Moscow. Picture: AFP

On Saturday, Mr Putin said Russia still had concerns about the deal.

“Vladimir Putin stressed that the obligations … to remove obstacles to the export of Russian food and fertilisers still remain unfulfilled,” according to a Kremlin statement.

“The main goal of the deal, namely the supply of grain to countries in need, including on the African continent, has not been implemented,” Putin said.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres supports removing hurdles to Russia exporting its fertilisers and sent Putin a letter on the subject Tuesday.

By ensuring the security of maritime cargo traffic in the Black Sea - along with inspections to counter arms shipments - the deal has allowed the export of nearly 33 million tonnes since it entered into force on August 1, 2022, mostly of wheat and maize.

The accord helped bring down prices that had shot higher following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and avoid hunger in countries heavily dependent upon imports.

Originally published as Two dead and a child injured in Crimea bridge drone attack