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Russia’s overseas ministry warned of retaliation in opposition to Ukraine for the most recent assault on the Kerch Strait Bridge on Saturday, an important Russian hyperlink to the occupied Crimean Peninsula that Kyiv has vowed to keep striking till it’s unusable.
Despised by Ukrainians as a logo of Russian occupation — President Vladimir V. Putin ordered it constructed after illegally annexing Crimea in 2014 — the Kerch bridge has been a goal because the struggle started. Ukraine has already hit it twice. Past its symbolic worth, the 12-mile span is a vital strategic asset, permitting Moscow to maneuver troops and tools from Russia to its bases in Crimea after which onto the battlefield in southern Ukraine.
The Russian Ministry of Protection mentioned on Saturday that it had downed a Ukrainian missile focusing on the bridge and that there was no damage. Video broadcast on Russian and Ukrainian state information media confirmed smoke billowing over the span, although the Russian-installed authorities in Crimea mentioned that was only a smoke display supposed to guard the bridge. The claims couldn’t be independently verified, and Ukrainian officers didn’t instantly remark.
Maria Zakharova, the spokeswoman for Russia’s overseas ministry, condemned the most recent assault, calling it an act of “sabotage” and warning that it “is not going to stay with no response,” the Russian state information company Tass reported on Saturday.
The assaults on the bridge seem like a part of a broader marketing campaign to chop the Crimean Peninsula off from each Russia and occupied areas of southern Ukraine, the place Ukrainian forces are engaged in a grueling counteroffensive effort to claw again territory from entrenched Russian forces.
Hours earlier than Saturday’s assault on the bridge, the Russian authorities mentioned Ukraine had launched 20 drones at targets in Crimea.
