Smoke rises on the Crimean bridge. An act of sabotage by Ukraine? Russia is talking about exercises – and seems to be preparing for fighting in the near future.
Crimea – A tall column of smoke moving towards the sea, in the middle of the Crimean Bridge. These videos are circulating on social media on Wednesday (May 24). The inhabitants of the adjacent city were frightened by the column, it said. The bridge was closed. "You can see it from different parts of the city," the portal Kerch.fm reported. Another alleged act of sabotage by Ukraine?
Smoke over the Crimean bridge: Russia denies sabotage and speaks of exercise
In recent weeks, there have been repeated reports of alleged acts of sabotage by Ukraine in Crimea. Once a fuel depot caught fire, another time there were explosions on a railway line. But this time it should be different. Sergey Aksenov, the Russian-appointed head of Crimea, wrote on Telegram in the morning that the Crimean bridge was "closed due to exercises in the area." He urged the population to trust only Russian information.
A short time later, the pro-Kremlin Russian news agency RIA Novosti added on Telegram that the smoke was "related to the exercises". This information could not be independently confirmed. As the Ukrainian online newspaper Ukrainska Pravda reports with reference to propagandists, the bridge was released again around 11 a.m. It was not known why the population was not warned and why the exercise was carried out.
Preparations in Crimea: Russia apparently expects counteroffensive on annexed territory
On the Crimean bridge, built in 2018, which connects the annexed territory with the Russian mainland, there had been a violent explosion in October. Russia subsequently blamed the Ukrainian secret service for the strike in Crimea. In Ukraine's planned counteroffensive, Russia also seems to suspect and prepare for Ukrainian strikes against the annexed territory. As reported by the Financial Times with reference to analyses of satellite images, Russia has enormously secured land access to Crimea.
Among other things, anti-tank ditches, zigzag trenches and concrete "dragon's tooth" barricades have been installed south of Zaporizhzhia province – at the main transport hubs and gates between Ukraine and the peninsula. This was apparently followed on Wednesday by the exercise on the second access to the peninsula, the bridge to Russia. Should Ukraine actually attack Crimea, experts expect a bloodbath. It's going to be a long struggle. But from the experts' point of view, a reconquest of Crimea offers the best chances for Ukraine to shake up the supposedly invincible Putin regime. Meanwhile, Russia is reporting renewed attacks on the Russian region of Belgorod. (chd
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