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Ukrainian missiles shot down over Crimea bridge

Russian defence ministry on Saturday said that its forces had destroyed 20 Ukrainian drones launched at the peninsula overnight, according to CNN…reports Asian Lite News

Russian officials have said that multiple missiles were shot down over the bridge connecting Crimea to the mainland on Saturday, CNN reported.

The Russia-appointed Head of Crimea Sergey Aksyonov in a post on Telegram wrote that two Ukrainian missiles were shot down on Saturday afternoon, according to CNN. Aksyonov further said that the bridge was undamaged.

In an update issued later on Saturday, Aksyonov said that another Ukrainian missile had been shot down in the area. Photos and videos circulating on social media platforms showed white smoke

In a post on Telegram, Aksyonov wrote, “Another enemy missile was shot down over the Kerch Strait. Thank you to our air defence troops for their high professionalism and vigilance!,” CNN reported.

Oleg Kryuchkov, an adviser to the Russian-appointed Head of Crimea, said special services have put a “smoke screen,” which he said is used to conceal any damage caused.

Earlier, the Russian defence ministry on Saturday said that its forces had destroyed 20 Ukrainian drones launched at the peninsula overnight, according to CNN.

Following the attempted strikes, the Russian foreign ministry criticised Ukraine for carrying out what it described as a “terrorist attack” and termed the attacks “unacceptable.”

Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said, “The Crimean bridge is an object of purely civilian infrastructure, attacks on which are unacceptable. It has been subjected to such attacks since the autumn of last year, which also led to the death of civilians.”

She further said, “Such barbaric actions cannot be justified and will not go unanswered.”

Meanwhile, traffic has resumed on the Crimean Bridge after it was temporarily blocked, CNN reported citing the Crimean Bridge operative information Telegram account.

Crimean bridge, also known as the Kerch bridge, holds personal value for Russian President Vladimir Putin. It marks the “reunification” of Crimea with the Russian mainland. (ANI)

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Russia detains gas pipeline blast suspect in Crimea

In a video interview published by the FSB, the man claims that he was blackmailed into cooperating with the SBU after Ukrainian authorities discovered that he had Russian citizenship…reports Asian Lite News

A man suspected of blowing up a gas pipeline in the Crimean village of Koreiz in June has been apprehended, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) announced on Wednesday. Authorities say the 43-year-old Russian citizen was working for Kiev.

The FSB said in a statement that the suspect was recruited by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in June 2022 in Dnepropetrovsk Region. While there, he allegedly underwent reconnaissance training and was then sent on a sabotage mission to Crimea.

On June 23 of this year, the unnamed suspect proceeded to blow up a gas pipeline using an improvised explosive device provided by his Ukrainian handlers through a hidden cache, the FSB claimed.

It was stated that during a search of the suspect’s garage, authorities seized a foreign-made C-4 plastic explosive charge weighing 2kg, two military-grade electric detonators, two electric igniters, and a home-made charger.

The FSB reported that a criminal case has been launched on counts of terrorism and the illegal possession of explosive devices. According to the authorities, the Russian citizen has already confessed to cooperating with the Ukrainian special services to prepare and commit acts of sabotage and terrorism.

In a video interview published by the FSB, the man claims that he was blackmailed into cooperating with the SBU after Ukrainian authorities discovered that he had Russian citizenship.

“They told me they wouldn’t leave me alone and would put me in prison for having dual citizenship and proposed that I cooperate. They told me I wouldn’t have any problems and would in the long term be able to move to live in Crimea along with my family, and that they would help with everything,” the man said.

He claims that after he agreed, he was given a basic course on how to work with explosives and was sent to Crimea, via a third country, to await further instructions. Several months later, the man says he was ordered to collect a package that contained several detonators and explosives, and was instructed to blow up any gas transportation pipeline he could find. His family, the SBU allegedly told him, would only be allowed to join him after he had carried out his mission.

On June 23, Crimean authorities reported that a pipeline in the settlement of Koreiz had been damaged, leaving around 500 people without gas. However, the pipeline had already been repaired by the end of the same day.

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Crimean oil depot on fire after drone attack

17 killed in Russian strikes on Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia city

Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Moscow-installed governor of Sevastopol, a port city, posted videos and photos of the blaze on his Telegram channel….reports Asian Lite news

A massive fire at an oil depot in Crimea has been contained after it was hit by two Ukrainian drones, a Russia-appointed official claimed.

 A massive fire erupted at an oil depot in Crimea after it was hit by two of Ukraine’s drones, a Russia-appointed official there reported, the latest in a series of attacks on the annexed peninsula as Russia braces for an expected Ukrainian counteroffensive.

Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Moscow-installed governor of Sevastopol, a port city, posted videos and photos of the blaze on his Telegram channel.

Razvozhayev said the fire at the city’s harbour was assigned the highest ranking in terms of how complicated it will be to extinguish. However, he reported that the open blaze had been contained.

Razvozhayev said the oil depot was attacked by “two enemy drones,” and four oil tanks burned down. A third drone was shot down from the sky, and one more was deactivated through radio-electronic means, according to Crimea’s Moscow-appointed governor, Sergei Aksyonov.

Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, when it first invaded its western neighbour. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an interview this week that his country will be seeking to reclaim the peninsula in the upcoming counteroffensive.

Russian President Vladimir Putin travelled to Crimea last month to mark the ninth anniversary of the Black Sea peninsula’s annexation from Ukraine. Putin’s visit took place the day after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for the Russian leader accusing him of war crimes.

The attack comes a day after Russia fired more than 20 cruise missiles and two drones at Ukraine. Almost all of the victims died when two missiles slammed into an apartment building in the city of Uman, located in central Ukraine.

Six children were among the dead, Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said on Saturday, adding that 22 of the 23 bodies recovered have been identified. Two women remained missing, Klymenko said.

Russian forces launched more drones at Ukraine overnight. Ukraine’s Air Force Command said two Iranian-made self-exploding Shahed drones were intercepted, and a reconnaissance drone was shot down on Saturday morning.

Razvozhayev said the oil depot fire did not cause any casualties and would not hinder fuel supplies in Sevastopol. The city has been subject to regular attacks with drones, especially in recent weeks.

Ukraine’s military intelligence spokesperson, Andriy Yusov, told the RBC Ukraine news site on Saturday that the oil depot fire was “God’s punishment” for “the murdered civilians in Uman, including five children.”

He said that more than 10 tanks containing oil products for Russia’s Black Sea Fleet were destroyed in Sevastopol, but stopped short of acknowledging Ukraine’s responsibility for a drone attack. The difference between the number of tanks Yusov and Razvozhayev gave could not be immediately reconciled.

After previous attacks on Crimea, Kyiv also wouldn’t openly claim responsibility, but emphasised that the country had the right to strike any target in response to Russian aggression.

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Crimean bridge explosion just the beginning: Ukraine

Explosion hits bridge connecting russia and crimea.(photo:@Podolyak_M)

Ukrainian officials had earlier threatened to attack the bridge on numerous occasions since Russia launched its ongoing invasion of Kiev on February 24

An explosion on Saturday that rocked the crucial Kerch bridge from Russia to Crimea, a hated symbol of the Kremlin’s occupation of the southern Ukrainian peninsula, is just “the beginning”, President Volodymyr Zelensky’s aide Mikhail Podoliak said in Kiev.

The bridge was closed in the early hours of Saturday after a truck exploded, damaging the road and causing a huge fire, RT news reported.

“Crimea, the bridge, the beginning. Everything illegal must be destroyed, everything stolen must be returned to Ukraine, everything occupied by Russia must be expelled,” Podoliak said in a tweet.

Ukrainian officials had earlier threatened to attack the bridge on numerous occasions since Russia launched its ongoing invasion of Kiev on February 24, RT reported.

In August, Podoliak had said that Europe’s largest bridge “should be destroyed” because it’s “an illegal construction and the main gateway to supply the Russian army in Crimea”.

Zelensky and other members of his team have also stated that Ukraine will use force to retake Crimea, which overwhelmingly voted to reunite with Russia in a referendum in 2014, RT reported.

Following the blast at around 6 a.m. on Saturday, images on social media showed a fiercely burning fire engulfing at least two railway carriages from a train on the bridge, accompanied by a vast column of black smoke, reports The Guardian.

The explosion, which witnesses said could be heard kilometres away, took place while a train was crossing the bridge, although it was not immediately clear what caused it.

Some images appeared to show a second fire at some distance from the main blaze.

Later images also appeared to show part of road bridge that runs parallel with the train tracks had collapsed, The Guardian reported.

The bridge is both highly symbolic to Russia and an important logistical supply route for Russian forces in Crimea and in southern Russian-occupied Ukraine.

The Russian news service TASS said a fuel tanker was involved.

“According to preliminary data, a fuel tank (railroad) car has been on fire at one of the sections of the Crimean bridge, shipping arches aren’t damaged,” said Oleg Kryuchkov, an adviser to the Russian occupation head of the Crimea.

Another Moscow-appointed official said: “A cistern carriage is burning with fuel on one of the bridge sections. Shipping arches aren’t affected. Too early to talk about reasons and consequences. Work is under way to put out the fire.”

However, video footage taken from the road span appeared to show fires burning fiercely in several railway trucks along the length of the train, numbering at least half a dozen with the train stationary on the bridge, The Guardian reported.

The railway span is part of a pair of parallel bridges, crossing the Kerch Strait linking Krasnodar in Russia and Crimea, which was built by Russia after its invasion and annexation of Crimea in 2014.

About 19-km long, the road bridge was opened by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2018, with the railway bridge opening two years later.

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Key bridge linking Crimea to Russia hit by huge blast

The State Border Service of Ukraine publishes footage of the entry of Russian military units from the territory of Crimea.(photo:State Border Service/Twitter/Xinhua)

The explosion, which witnesses said could be heard kilometres away, took place at around 6 a.m. on Saturday morning while a train was crossing the bridge

The Kerch bridge from Russia to Crimea, a hated symbol of the Kremlins occupation of the southern Ukrainian peninsula, was hit by a massive explosion on Saturday on the span that carries railway traffic.

Images from the bridge showed a fiercely burning fire engulfing at least two railway carriages from a train on the bridge, accompanied by a vast column of black smoke, The Guardian reported.

The explosion, which witnesses said could be heard kilometres away, took place at around 6 a.m. on Saturday morning while a train was crossing the bridge, although it was not immediately clear what caused it.

Some images appeared to show a second fire at some distance from the main blaze.

Later images also appeared to show part of road bridge that runs parallel with the train tracks had collapsed, The Guardian reported.

The bridge is both highly symbolic to Russia and an important logistical supply route for Russian forces in Crimea and in southern Russian-occupied Ukraine.

The Russian news service TASS said a fuel tanker was involved.

“According to preliminary data, a fuel tank (railroad) car has been on fire at one of the sections of the Crimean bridge, shipping arches aren’t damaged, said Oleg Kryuchkov, an adviser to the Russian occupation head of the Crimea.

Another Moscow-appointed official said: “A cistern carriage is burning with fuel on one of the bridge sections. Shipping arches aren’t affected. Too early to talk about reasons and consequences. Work is under way to put out the fire.”

However, video footage taken from the road span appeared to show fires burning fiercely in several railway trucks along the length of the train, numbering at least half a dozen with the train stationary on the bridge, The Guardian reported.

The railway span is part of a pair of parallel bridges, crossing the Kerch Strait linking Krasnodar in Russia and Crimea, which was built by Russia after its invasion and annexation of Crimea in 2014.

Some 19-km long, the road bridge was opened by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2018, with the railway bridge opening two years later.

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Zelensky promises to retake Crimea

The President said that when Ukraine regains control over Crimea, it will fix “everything that the occupiers did on the peninsula” in various areas and restore justice…reports Asian Lite News

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hosted an online summit of dozens of world leaders to rally support for the return of the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014.

The summit titled Crimea Platform, is Ukraine’s second effort to mobilize international support for taking back the Black Sea peninsula from Russia, reports dpa news agency.

“A place of paradise was turned into a depressive and dependent region – into a region of high fences, barbed wire and lawlessness,” Zelensky told the videoconference.

“Citizens from Crimea and in Crimea… I know that Crimea is with Ukraine and is waiting for us to come back. I want you to know: we will definitely come back.”

The President said that when Ukraine regains control over Crimea, it will fix “everything that the occupiers did on the peninsula” in various areas and restore justice, reports Ukrayinska Pravda.

According to Zelensky, “the degradation of Russia began with the seizure of Crimea, with the terror experienced by the Crimean Tatar people” and the repression of the Muslim community.

“In order to overcome terror, to restore predictability and security to our region, Europe, and the whole world, we must win the fight against Russian aggression. It is necessary to liberate Crimea from occupation. It will end there, where it all began. And this will be an effective resuscitation of the international legal order,” he added.

Addressing the summit virtually, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg acknowledged that the conflict has become “a grinding war of attrition”, reports dpa news agency.

“This is a battle of wills and a battle of logistics. Therefore, we must sustain our support for Ukraine for the long-term, so that Ukraine prevails, as a sovereign independent nation,” he said.

German Cancellor Olaf Scholz said his country is preparing to ship more than 500 million euros ($499.3 million) in additional weapons, adding that Kiev is to receive three more IRIS-T air defence systems, a dozen armoured recovery vehicles and 20 pickup-mounted missile launchers.

While most of are to be delivered in 2023, Scholz said some will arrive “significantly earlier”.

“The international community will never accept Russia’s illegal, imperialist annexation of Ukrainian territory,” Scholz said to attendees at the summit, named the Crimea Platform.

Polish President Andrzej Duda, who travelled to meet Zelensky in person, said at the forum: “Crimea was and is as much a part of Ukraine as Gdansk or Lublin is a part of Poland, as Nice is a part of France, Cologne is a part of Germany and Rotterdam is a part of the Netherlands.”

He also called for the elimination of the Baltic Sea gas pipeline between Russia and Germany, Nord Stream 2, according to Polish news agency PAP.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose country has good relations with Russia, also said Crimea clearly belonged to Ukraine.

Outgoing UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that Russian President Vladimir Putin “is planning to do to other parts of Ukraine – indeed all of Ukraine, what he has done to Crimea.”

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