KERCH, Crimea, July 17 (Reuters) – Two people were killed and their daughter was seriously injured on Monday after blasts on the Crimean Bridge, a major supply artery for Russian troops fighting in Ukraine and a prestige project that was personally opened by President Vladimir Putin.
Reuters images from the scene showed no traffic crossing the 19 km (12-mile) road and rail bridge which links Russia to Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
Unverified imagery showed twisted metal barriers, debris and a damaged car on the bridge. Dash cam footage showed drivers braking sharply shortly after the incident. The extent of the damage was not immediately clear.
Russian officials called it an “emergency” situation. Russia’s Grey Zone channel, a Telegram channel affiliated with the Wagner mercenary group, reported there were two strikes on the bridge at 03:04 a.m. (0004 GMT) and 03:20 a.m.
The parents of a girl were killed and their daughter was injured in a passenger car.
“The girl was injured,” Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of the Belgorod region said in a message on the Telegram messaging app. “The hardest thing is that her parents died, dad and mum.”
“No words can calm the pain of loss here,” he said. The girl was being treated in intensive care.
Sergei Aksyonov, a Russia-installed governor, said the emergency occurred on the 145th pillar of the bridge. He did not provide any further details.
A spokesperson for Ukraine’s southern military command, Natalia Humeniuk, said the incident on the Crimea Bridge could be an act of provocation on Moscow’s side.
“The creation of such provocations, which the occupying authorities of Crimea report immediately very loudly, is a typical way of solving problems by authorities of Crimea and the aggressor country,” Humeniuk told the national broadcaster Rada.
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