2 people dead, 1 injured in Crimea bridge 'explosion': Russian officials

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) – At least two people were killed and another was injured early Monday, which Russian officials say due to an "emergency" situation at the Kerch Bridge, a key passage linking Russia and the Crimean Peninsula that it illegally annexed in 2014.

“This morning, we all started with information about the emergency that happened on the Crimean bridge. What information is available at the moment: a girl was moderately injured … The hardest thing is that her parents died, dad and mom,” Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a statement on Telegram.

The girl is under the supervision of doctors and will be immediately transported to the Belgorod region once doctors permit it, Gladkov added.

In earlier statements, Sergey Aksyonov, the Russian-installed head of Crimea, announced on Telegram that traffic at the Kerch Bridge had stopped and that an “emergency” had occurred in the area.

“Given the current situation, I ask residents and guests of the peninsula to refrain from traveling through the Crimean bridge and, for security reasons, choose an alternative land route through new regions,” Aksyonov said.

In a separate statement, Vladimir Konstantinov, the head of the pro-Russian State Council of Crimea, claimed on Telegram that Ukraine "attacked" the Kerch Bridge.

Ukrainian officials have not yet responded to the claim, and independent verification of Russia's claims is difficult due to the ongoing war.