Ukraine war: Vladimir Putin drives across bombed Crimea bridge in Mercedes

Vladimir Putin’s visit to a key Crimea bridge is the closest he’s come to the Ukraine war frontline, as more missile strikes hit Ukraine’s power grid. Watch video.

Vladimir Putin drove a Mercedes across a bridge that links Moscow-annexed Crimea to the Russian mainland weeks after the vital link was hit by a blast, images on state television showed.

The 19km road and rail bridge, which was opened by Mr Putin in 2018, was bombed on October 8 in an attack Russia said was carried out by Ukraine.

It was the closest the 70-year-old Russian leader has come to the frontline in Ukraine, after sending troops to the pro-Western country on February 24.

Mr Putin made the symbolic trip as Russia reopened the bridge to traffic.

The president, accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin, was shown on state television behind the wheel of a Mercedes, asking questions about where the attack took place.

Vladimir Putin drives himself across a key Crimea bridge.

“We are driving on the right hand side,” Mr Putin said, as he drove across the bridge.

“The left side of the bridge, as I understand it, is in working condition, but nevertheless it needs to be completed. It still suffered a little, we need to bring it to an ideal state.”

Mr Putin also walked along parts of the bridge, Europe’s largest, to inspect damaged sections.

The Kremlin chief heard a report from Mr Khusnullin about repair work on the bridge and spoke to construction workers.

The president was accompanied by state TV.

After suffering humiliating military defeats on the ground in Ukraine, Russia began targeting Ukrainian energy infrastructure in October, causing sweeping blackouts.

On Friday, Mr Putin said that the Russian attacks were Moscow’s “inevitable” response to Ukraine’s strikes on Russian infrastructure including the Kerch bridge.

Mr Putin was flanked by Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin, left. Picture: AFP

RUSSIA HITS UKRAINE POWER GRID

Ukraine has been targeted by a new wave of fatal Russian missiles, the latest attack to disrupt power across the country and pile pressure on its embattled critical infrastructure as temperatures plunge.

The attacks came just after Moscow shrugged off a Western-imposed price cap on its oil exports, warning that the move would not disrupt its military campaign in Ukraine.

The head of the central Zaporizhzhia region, Oleksandr Starukh, said that Russian missiles had left two people dead.

Workmen on a roof damaged by a missile attack in Vyshhorod, Ukraine. Picture: Getty Images

Officials in regions in the east and south announced disruptions to water, electrical and heating services.

“There are already strikes on energy infrastructure facilities and subsequently emergency power outages,” the national electricity provider Ukrenergo said in a statement.

Officials in the eastern region of Sumy and the southern regions of Odessa and Mykolaiv said residents were being subjected to disruptions in water, power or heating supplies as a result of the strikes.

A man holds a cat in a house damaged by a missile attack in Vyshhorod, Ukraine. Picture: Getty Images

Nearly half the country’s energy system has been damaged after months of systemic strikes on power infrastructure.

Ukrainians have frequently been left in the cold and dark for hours at a time when the outdoor temperature has dropped below zero.

“Charge power banks. Prepare reserves of water. And heads of enterprises of all forms of ownership: let people go home,” said the head of Kryvyi Rig military administration, Oleksandr Vilkul.

Destroyed Russian tanks in Bucha, Ukraine. Picture: Getty Images

Ukraine officials in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia said Monday that two people had been killed by Russian missiles as authorities in several regions urged residents to shelter from a fresh Russian missile barrage.

The head of the Zaporizhzhia region said two people were killed and two more injured in attacks that damaged residential homes, while Kyiv region officials said air defences were repelling Russian attacks and several regional governors called on residents to take shelter.

People shelter in the Metro as Russia launches another missile attack on Kyiv, Ukraine. Picture: Getty Images

RUSSIA THUMBS NOSE AT WESTERN OIL CAP

Russia shrugged off a Western-imposed price cap on its oil exports on Monday, warning that it would not disrupt its military campaign in Ukraine.

The $US60-per-barrel price cap agreed by the European Union, G7 and Australia aims to restrict Russia’s revenue while making sure Moscow keeps supplying the global market.

“Russia’s economy has all the necessary potential to fully meet the needs and requirements of the special military operation,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, using Moscow’s term for the Ukraine offensive.

“These measures will not affect this,” he said.

Russia, he added, “will not recognise” the measures, adding that they amounted “a step towards destabilising the global energy markets” and that they would “change” oil prices.

The cap is the latest in a number of measures spearheaded by Western countries and introduced against Russia – the world’s second-largest crude oil exporter – after Moscow sent troops into Ukraine over nine months ago.