Kyiv admits to blowing up Crimean bridge

The Russians, at least, believe that the Ukrainian deputy defense minister let the information slip.

A Krími híd 2022. október 8-ai felrobbantása. (Fotó: Clash Report / Twitter)

"It has been 273 days since the bridge to Crimea was attacked to disrupt Russian logistics," Hanna Maliar, deputy Ukrainian defence minister, wrote in a Telegram post.

On the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the Russia-Ukraine war, the politician shared the highlights of the conflict, including the shooting down of the Russian supersonic Kinzhal missile, the issuance of the arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, the sinking of the Russian cruiser Moscow, and the liberation of the Kyiv region.

According to the Russian state news agency TASS, this is an admission by Kyiv that they ordered the blowing up of the bridge connecting Crimea to Russia.

This is also interesting because Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, after the partial blowing up of the bridge on 8 October last year, claimed in an interview with Canadian television CTV News that Ukraine had nothing to do with the incident.

We definitely didn't order this, as far as I know.

The only bridge connecting Russia with occupied Crimea is now partially destroyed | Oct 8 2022 pic.twitter.com/qQvf1VbQ5v

— redball (@redball2) October 8, 2022

The president then suggested that internal rivalry between the Russian military and security services could be behind the explosion on the bridge.

Contrary to the Ukrainian position, the Kremlin blamed the Ukrainian special services, even claiming the incident an act of terrorism.

There is no doubt. This is an act of terrorism aimed at destroying critical civilian infrastructure of the Russian Federation. Its planners, perpetrators and commissioners were the Ukrainian special services,

the Russian president said at the time.

Kyiv has been steadfast since the outbreak of the war in its stance to fight Russia until the 1992 borders are restored, including the Crimean peninsula, which the Federation annexed in 2014. In June, an air strike was also carried out on the Gongar bridge linking the partly Russian-controlled Ukrainian oblast of Kherson with annexed Crimea. 

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also reacted to the Ukrainian deputy defense minister's post on Telegram, echoing Maliar's words and adding,

The terrorist regime now begins a plan for its own redemption, the systematic destruction of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant. This topic should be at the center of the NATO summit, since the vast majority of the alliance's members are located in the immediate danger zone.

As MTI recalls, both Russia and Ukraine accuse the other of planning to attack the plant, which is located in the Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine, near the front line, in Russian-held territory.

The NATO summit in Vilnius will start next Tuesday, where one of the main items on the agenda is the war between Russia and Ukraine and the allies' further assistance to Kiev.

Cover photo: The attack on the bridge between Crimea and Russia on 8 October 2022 (Photo: Clash Report/Twitter)