Russia today accused Ukraine of perpetrating new attacks against the strategic bridge in Crimeathe longest in Europe, while it continued its offensive in the east of the neighboring country and defensive actions in the south, where kyiv’s forces are advancing.
“We strongly condemn these terrorist attacks. The Crimean bridge is a purely civilian infrastructure object,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement. According to Zakharova, kyiv’s “barbaric actions” “have no justification” and “will not go unchallenged.”
Previously, the Russian Ministry of Defense and the Crimean authorities reported at least two attacks with S-200 missiles against the bridge on the annexed peninsula throughout the day today. This morning, the Russian military reported in addition to the destruction of about twenty drones that were launched over Crimea.
The attacks forced the Russian authorities to suspend traffic on the bridge twice in one day, causing long traffic jams near the accesses to the infrastructure.
Ukraine has repeatedly denounced that Russia uses Crimea as a “military base” to launch its attacks against the rest of the Ukrainian territory and has branded the bridge that connects the peninsula, annexed in 2014, with Russian territory as “an unnecessary construction”.