“273 days since we struck the first blow on the Crimean Bridge to disrupt the logistics of the Russians,” Maliar had written on Telegram on Saturday.
"Now they have embarked on a plan for ‘their own salvation’- systematic infliction of damage to the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant," added Maria Zakharova, the official spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry, in a Telegram post, Sputnik reported.
Previously, a huge threat of sabotage at the ZNPP from Kyiv amid its stuttering counteroffensive was emphasized by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Up until now, Kyiv has refused to claim responsibility for the attack on the 19-km long bridge - the longest in Europe and connecting the Crimean peninsula and mainland Russia's Krasnodar region. Crimea reunited with Russia in March 2014 after a referendum in which over 96% of the peninsula's voters said “yes” to reunification. The bridge was opened by Russia's President Vladimir Putin in May 2018.
A truck was blown up on the road section of the Crimean Bridge on 8 October, causing two car spans partially to collapse into the sea. Seven fuel tanks of a freight train on the adjacent rail section caught fire. Three people were killed. Russian President Vladimir Putin called the blast on Crimean Bridge a terrorist attack aimed at destroying civilian infrastructure.
Immediately after the attack, Russian authorities announced a series of measures to repair damage and ensure stable transport ties between Crimea and Krasnodar Territory. Putin signed a decree Saturday night to step up security for transport crossing through the Kerch Strait, as well as electricity and energy infrastructure in the area.
At the time, Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelensky, hinted at Kyiv's responsibility for the terrorist incident in a series of meme-riddled posts on social media. Presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak had gloated that the attack on the bridge was just "the beginning" and that "everything illegal must be destroyed" and "everything stolen must be returned to Ukraine."
Two senior Ukrainian officials also purportedly told the New York Times that Ukrainian intelligence was behind the attack on the bridge.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) stated a week after the attack that the Ukrainian Defense Ministry's Main Intelligence Directorate was behind the explosion.The FSB also said that “the explosive device was camouflaged in rolls with a construction polyethylene film and was shipped from the [Ukrainian] seaport of Odessa to Bulgaria's Ruse in early August”.
MNA/PR