Parents killed, daughter injured in Crimea bridge attack

The parents of a girl were killed and their daughter injured in a passenger car on the Crimea Bridge early on Monday in what Russia said was a Ukrainian attack.

“The girl was injured,” Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of the Belgorod region in southern Russia said in a message on the Telegram messaging app.

“The hardest thing is that her parents died, dad and mum.”Gladkov said.

Blasts were reported before dawn on the 19-km (12-mile) road and rail bridge linking Russia to Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

Unverified imagery showed a section of road on the bridge had split and listing to one side with metal barriers buckled. Dash cam footage showed drivers braking sharply shortly after the incident. Traffic was halted.

Russian officials said Ukraine was behind what they called a “terrorist” attack on the bridge – on the same day that Putin must decide whether or not to extend a UN-brokered deal that allows the export of grain via the Black Sea.

The Ukrainian military suggested the attack could be some kind of provocation by Russia itself but Ukrainian media cited unidentified sources as saying that Ukraine’s Security Service was behind the incident.

Gladkov said the car the victims were travelling in had a number plates from his region which he said was urgently trying to contact relatives of the injured girl.

The girl is being treated by doctors and has what he said were “moderate” injuries.

“I wanted to express the most sincere words of condolences from all of us, although I understand that no words can calm the pain of loss here,” he said.

Crimea was annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014, but is internationally recognised as part of Ukraine.

Russia blamed Ukraine for an attack on the bridge last October, saying it was organised by Ukrainian military intelligence and its director, Kyrylo Budanov. Ukraine admitted only indirectly to the attack months later.

Also Read: Putin accuses Ukraine of Crimea bridge blast 

After the October attack, Russia launched strikes against Ukrainian cities including power supplies in retaliation. Putin ordered the bridge repaired and even drove a Mercedes across it.

The bridge, Europe’s longest, was built by a company controlled by Putin ally Arkady Rotenberg. Putin has long lauded the project, boasting at one point that Russian Tsars and Soviet leaders had dreamed of building it but never did.

The Crimean peninsula has long been a cherished vacation destination for Russians, especially after Moscow launched its invasion on Ukraine in 2022 and travelling to the West became much more difficult for Russians.

Crimea was transferred from Soviet Russia to Soviet Ukraine in 1954 by then Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and recognised by Russia in 1994 after the collapse of the USSR. Ukraine has vowed to return Crimea.