Putin kills civilians in reply to bridge blast
KYIV: Vladimir Putin has accused Ukraine of terrorism by blowing up the bridge linking Crimea to Russia, as Kyiv in turn denounced a Russian missile strike that killed at least 13 civilians.
“The authors, perpetrators and sponsors are the Ukrainian secret services,” Russian President Putin said of Saturday’s Crimea bridge bombing, which he described as a “terrorist act”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky meanwhile denounced the missile strike on Sunday that killed at least 13 people, including one child, in Zaporizhzhia, the latest deadly bombardment of the southern Ukrainian city.
The attack also wounded 89 people, including 11 children, according to a statement from the President’s office.
Mr Zelensky described the “merciless strikes on peaceful people” and residential buildings as “evil” perpetrated by “savages and terrorists”.
Regional official Oleksandr Starukh posted pictures of heavily damaged apartment blocks on Telegram and said a rescue operation had been launched to find victims under the rubble.
Russia officials also denounced on Sunday what they said was a surge in Ukrainian fire into its territory that had hit homes, administrative buildings and a monastery.
Russia’s FBS, which is responsible for border security, reported on Sunday: “Since the start of October, the number of attacks from Ukrainian armed formations on Russia’s border territory has considerably increased.” More than a hundred artillery attacks, concentrated on the western border regions of Belgorod, Bryansk and Kursk, had hit housing and administrative buildings, the statement read.
The attacks had killed one person and wounded five others, including a child.
The governor of Kursk region, Roman Starovoyt, said Ukrainian fire had hit the Garnalski Saint Nicolas monastery, on the border.
Although the building had been hit, starting a fire that was quickly put out, nobody was hurt, he said, posting photos of the damage.
Moscow meanwhile said divers were to inspect the waters beneath the giant Crimea bridge on Sunday, a day after a truck bomb ignited a massive fire on the road and rail link, killing three people.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin said the divers would make their initial report later on Sunday.
Already on Saturday, Russia said some road and rail traffic had resumed over the strategic link, a symbol of the Kremlin’s illegal 2014 annexation of Crimea.