Kyiv claims responsibility for last year Crimea Bridge blast

Speaking on Ukrainian national television on Wednesday, Vasyl Malyuk, the head of SBU, said that his agency was behind the attack on the Crimean Bridge, which left three people dead.

"There were many different operations, special operations. We'll be able to speak about some of them publicly and aloud after the victory, we will not talk at all about others," Malyuk said.

"It is one of our actions, namely the destruction of the Crimean Bridge on Oct. 8 last year," he added.

Last October, a truck bomb went off on the arterial bridge, which hosts road and rail links between the Russian Federation and Crimea.

The bomb set fire to seven oil tankers that were being carried by rail to Crimea, sparking a massive blaze and killing three people.

At the time, Russia blamed Ukraine for the attack on the bridge, saying it was organized by Ukrainian military intelligence and its director, Kyrylo Budanov.

Ukraine did not claim responsibility for the explosion. However, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak declared in a Twitter message that the bombing was “the beginning.”

After the October attack, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the bridge repaired and even drove a vehicle across it.

The bridge, constructed on the orders of Putin, was inaugurated in 2018, four years after Crimea voted in a referendum to become part of Russia.

The latest development comes as Kyiv has intensified its attacks on the peninsula in recent weeks.

On Saturday, a Ukrainian drone attack at infrastructure facilities in Crimea sparked mass evacuations and briefly suspended road traffic on the Crimean Bridge.

Moscow blamed Ukraine for the attack, saying the assault took place under the auspices of the United States and Britain. 

Also last Wednesday, a separate Ukrainian raid on Crimea killed a teenage girl and damaged several administrative buildings.

Crimea has repeatedly been targeted by Ukrainian drone attacks since Moscow launched its military operation against Kyiv in February last year.

Russia launched the campaign partly to counter NATO’s further eastward expansion and to stop Kyiv’s persecution of the pro-Russian population in eastern Ukraine.

Moscow also regularly accuses Ukraine of attacks against targets inside Russia, while Kyiv has never officially taken responsibility for those attacks.

MNA/PR