Russia closes Crimean bridge again after munitions depot attack
Four days after reopening the strategic Crimean bridge linking Russia to the occupied Ukrainian peninsula, Moscow has been forced to close it again due to another attack. A munitions depot in the Krasnogvardeysky district was targeted, and as a result, residents within a five-kilometre radius of the area began to be evacuated, Politico reports.
Rail traffic over the Kerch bridge in Crimea has also been suspended. According to reports on social media, an oil depot was hit in Oktyabrsky, south of the town of Krasnogvardeysky and close to an airfield.
The Kerch Bridge, completed in 2018, four years after Russian President Vladimir Putin's illegal occupation of Crimea, is a critical land route to the peninsula, resupplying Moscow's forces fighting in southern Ukraine with troops, weapons and fuel.
The bridge has been the target of several attacks recently, especially since Ukraine began its counter-offensive.
Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski told the Aspen security conference in the US on Friday that the Kerch bridge is a military target.
"This is the route used to fuel the war with ammunition and this is done every day. And it militarises the Crimean peninsula.So understandably, this is a target for us. And a target that brings war, not peace, must be neutralised," Zelenski said.
So far, no one has taken responsibility for this week's attacks.
