Huge fire erupts on strategic bridge linking Crimea to Russia
October 8, 2022, 9:40 am

Huge fire erupts on strategic bridge linking Crimea to Russia

A bridge connecting Crimea to Russia caught fire early Saturday morning (Oct 8) - Photo. Crimean telegram channels

A bridge connecting Crimea to Russia caught fire early Saturday morning (Oct 8). The cause of the fire at the Kerch bridge is unknown, according to reports on social media, the Anadolu Agency reported.

Footage and images, widely shared on social media, show that a road section collapsed and train carriages were burning on the bridge.

A huge explosion was heard before the massive fire broke out, according to eye-witnesses and video footages.

The Kerch Bridge, a pair of parallel bridges, one road and one railroad, is a key supply route for Russia which was built after Crimea's annexation in 2014.

A view of a road section of the Kerch Strait (Crimean) Bridge is seen in Sevastopol, Crimea ( Russian Presidential - Anadolu Agency )

Crimea is a peninsula in Eastern Europe. It is situated along the northern coast of the Black Sea, and has a population of 2.4 million, made up mostly of ethnic Russians with significant Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar minorities, among others.

Former top US general sees Crimea back in Ukrainian hands by mid-2023

In 2014 pro-Russians seized control, organizing a sham referendum supporting Russian annexation, but most countries recognize Crimea as Ukrainian.

On Tuesday Oct 4, a former top US general said at the annual Warsaw Security Forum said that Ukraine will push Russia back to Ukraine’s pre-war borders by the end of 2022 and retake the Crimean Peninsula in 2023.

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