Explosions hit road bridges between Crimea and occupied Ukraine

Explosions hit critical road bridges linking occupied Crimea with parts of Kherson region under Russian control, Russian authorities say, as Ukraine escalates its targeting of Russian infrastructure and territory.

Explosions hit critical road bridges linking occupied Crimea with parts of Kherson region under Russian control, Russian authorities say, as Ukraine escalates its targeting of Russian infrastructure and territory.

The blasts came on the same day the Moscow mayor said a drone had been shot down approaching the city and soon after Ukraine struck one of Russia’s biggest oil tankers with a sea drone as well as carrying out an attack on a major naval base.

The Russian-appointed acting head of Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo, says the missiles that hit two bridges in Crimea Sunday were all Storm Shadows, an air-launched long-range missile supplied to Ukraine by the UK.

Saldo said the two bridges were used by civilian and not military traffic. A rupture to a gas pipeline running alongside the bridge had cut off supplies to 20,000 residents of the city of Henichesk in Kherson.

Saldo said: “It’s this kind of sneaky missile attack that can’t be forgiven. It’s like a wounded animal snapping back.

“These strikes do not do anything for the special military operation that is currently underway … They have decided to take petty revenge on civilians and those who are now moving through the territory of the Kherson region.”

Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said a Russian guided aerial bomb struck a blood transfusion center in the Kharkiv region Saturday.

He added that there were dead and wounded without providing any specific numbers.