Traffic across the Crimean Bridge resumed in the early hours of Tuesday, less than a day after an attack by Ukrainian drones damaged a section of the vehicle span. The attack killed two civilians and orphaned a 14-year-old girl.
Cars are alternating in the use of the right-most lane between Taman and Kerch, Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin said on his Telegram channel shortly after midnight local time.
Crews from the road management company Rosavtodor and other emergency workers quickly responded to Monday’s attack and carried out emergency repairs on the damaged spans, Khusnullin said.
No pillars were damaged in Monday morning’s blast, but one of the inner segments of the bridge has partially collapsed, requiring repairs that will probably take weeks. The remaining span was extensively tested before reopening, according to Khusnullin.
According to the Russian authorities, the attack was carried out using two seaborne drones. A family car passing across the targeted span crashed as a result, killing Aleksey Kulik, 40, and his wife Natalya, 36. Their daughter Angelina, 14, was airlifted to Krasnodar with serious injuries.
President Vladimir Putin called the incident “yet another terrorist attack by the Kiev regime,” and vowed swift and severe retaliation. Putin also noted that the bridge was not being used for the transport of military supplies, making the attack both pointless and criminal.
The Russian Foreign Ministry condemned the “cynical and monstrous” reactions from Kiev to the deaths of the Kuliks and the suffering of their daughter. According to Ukrainian media, the attack was a joint operation of the Navy and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).
The government in Kiev and many of its Western supporters have obsessively championed the destruction of the bridge, built in 2018 to connect Crimea to the Russian mainland. Earlier this month, the Ukrainian authorities admitted they were behind the October 2022 truck bombing that killed three civilians and damaged both the road and rail spans. Moscow responded by launching missile strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure. The bridge was fully repaired by March 5.