The Crimean Bridge has sustained considerable damage to one section of its roadway, but its foundations are unaffected, according to a video released by a local TV channel on Monday.
A 20-second clip shared by the Crimea 24 channel showed one partially collapsed span of the bridge hanging over the water, but no other visible damage.
Earlier, Russia’s Ministry of Transport said that the bridge’s road surface on one of the tracks had been damaged, but did not confirm reports about more serious ramifications, noting that “the span constructions remain on their supports.”
The outlet said that the video was shot from a parallel railway track. While the traffic on this section of the bridge had been stopped following the incident, the train service resumed several hours later.
The incident on the key link between the Crimean peninsula and mainland Russia was first reported in the early hours of Monday morning by the region’s governor Sergey Aksyonov, who cited an 'unspecified emergency'. Later, Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said that a couple from his region had been killed in the incident, while their daughter was injured.
The Crimean Bridge has been targeted by Ukraine in the past, but Kiev officials have so far stopped short of assuming direct responsibility for any attempts to destroy the infrastructure. However, several Ukrainian media outlets reported that the bridge had been damaged in a “special operation” conducted by the country’s intelligence services and naval forces that involved seaborne drones.
Russia’s National Antiterrorist Committee (NAK) said on Monday that the bridge had been targeted by a Ukrainian terrorist attack.