Vladimir Putin orders extra security around Kerch bridge in Crimea as limited traffic starts to resume
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, will hold a meeting of his security council on Monday, the Kremlin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, has said. It comes after an explosion on Saturday caused the collapse of part of a bridge linking the Crimean peninsula with Russia.
Ukrainian authorities have revised the death toll from the Russian shelling of Zaporizhzhia down from 17 to at least 12. The blasts blew out windows in adjacent buildings and left at least one high-rise apartment building partially collapsed. In the immediate aftermath of the strikes, the city council said 17 were killed but later revised that down to 12. The city council secretary, Anatoliy Kurtev, said rockets struck the city overnight, and that at least 20 private homes and 50 apartment buildings were damaged. At least 40 people were admitted to hospital and dozens more were being treated for moderate to light injuries, Kurtev posted on his Telegram channel.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has vowed that those who ordered and issued the “merciless” strikes in Zaporizhzhia will be held responsible. In a post on his Facebook page, he said the attack was “evil” and that everyone involved in the incident “will be held accountable”.
The blasts that killed at least 12 people in Zaporizhzhia came from six missiles launched in Russian-occupied areas of the wider region, the Ukrainian air force has said. The Zaporizhzhia region is one of four Russia claimed as its own this month, but the regional capital remains under Ukrainian control.
Reuters reports that the White House said it would continue to arm Ukraine but declined direct comment on an explosion that damaged Russia’s road-and-rail bridge to Crimea. National security spokesman John Kirby told ABC’s This Week programme: “We don’t really have anything more to add to the reports about the explosion on the bridge. What I can tell you is that Mr Putin started this war, and Mr Putin could end it today, simply by moving his troops out of the country.”
The Russian invasion of Ukraine is being accompanied by the destruction and pillaging of historical sites and treasures on an industrial scale, Ukrainian authorities said. In an interview with the Associated Press, Ukraine’s culture minister, Oleksandr Tkachenko, alleged that Russian soldiers helped themselves to artefacts in almost 40 Ukrainian museums. The looting and destruction of cultural sites has caused losses estimated in the hundreds of millions of euros, the minister added.
Ukraine has recaptured more than 1,170 sq km (450 sq miles) of land in its southern Kherson region since launching the start of its counterassault against Russia in late August, a military spokesperson said. Ukraine achieved success with its offensive in the north-east, but its drive in the south to wipe out a Russian foothold on the west bank of the vast Dnieper River has taken longer, Reuters reports. Southern military command spokesperson Natalia Humeniuk said that Ukraine was making progress on the Kherson front, but that a lot needed to be done to secure newly recaptured territories.
The damage from Saturday’s explosion on the Kerch bridge in Crimea could have a “significant” impact on Russia’s “already strained ability to sustain its forces” in southern Ukraine, the latest UK intelligence update says. The Ministry of Defence said the blast “will likely touch President Putin closely” for reasons including that it came hours after his 70th birthday, he personally sponsored and opened the bridge, and its construction contractor was a childhood friend. The ministry said the bridge’s rail crossing had played a key role in moving heavy military vehicles to the southern front during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Continue reading...