Russia says truck blast behind Crimea bridge damage

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky says Ukrainian forces have recaptured nearly 2,500 square kilometres (965 square miles) of territory from Russia in a counteroffensive that began late last month.

The giant bridge linking southern Russia with Crimea opened in 2018

Moscow announced Saturday that a truck exploded igniting a huge fire and damaging the key Kerch bridge -- built as Russia's sole land link with annexed Crimea -- and vowed to find the perpetrators, without immediately blaming Ukraine. 

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.

"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," Russian news agencies cited the national anti-terrorism committee as saying. 

Moscow had maintained the bridge crossing was safe despite the fighting.

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

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

Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the head of the office of Ukraine's presidency,  took to Twitter posting a picture of a long section of the bridge half-submerged in the waters.

"Crimea, the bridge, the beginning," he wrote.

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.

Russian forces said Friday they had captured ground in Donetsk in east Ukraine, their first claim of new gains since a Kyiv counter-offensive rattled Moscow's war effort.

- Russian gains -

AFP journalists in the centre of Bakhmut heard the sound of heavy artillery and multiple rocket launch systems near the remains of a smashed bridge over the Bakhmutka river.

The Donetsk region, which has been partially controlled by Kremlin-backed separatists for years, is a key prize for Russian forces, which invaded Ukraine in February.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said late Friday  his forces had recaptured nearly 2,500 square kilometres (965 square miles) in the counter-offensive that began late last month.

But Ukraine continues to suffer serious losses. Fourteen people died Thursday when Russian missiles struck the industrial town of Zaporizhzhia, the local council's secretary announced late Friday.

Zelensky has pushed to punish Russia in other areas, urging Brussels to ramp up pressure on its energy sector -- a day after the EU imposed a fresh round of sanctions on Moscow.

In the more than seven months since Russia's offensive, Putin has made thinly veiled threats of using nuclear weapons. 

But by Friday the White House dialled back the alarm, saying the president's comments did not reflect new intelligence. 

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