<div style="text-align: justify; "><b><span style="font-size: 1rem;">A key bridge linking the Crimean peninsula with mainland Russia has been partially destroyed in a truck explosion, Russian media reported, putting at risk a key supply route for Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine.</span><br></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament, the Duma, called it “an act of war” as the country’s investigative committee said on Saturday it had “initiated a criminal case in connection with the incident on the Crimean bridge,” adding that “a truck was blown up”.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“According to preliminary information, this morning on the automobile part of the Crimean bridge from the side of the Taman Peninsula, a truck was blown up, which caused seven fuel tanks to ignite on a train heading towards the Crimea peninsula,” the committee said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><b>“As a result, two lanes partially collapsed.”</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Three people have been found dead so far as the result of the truck explosion, Russia’s Investigative Committee said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“They are believed to be passengers of a car that was near the truck that exploded. The bodies of two victims, a man and a woman, have already been recovered from the water and their identities are being established,” the committee said in a statement.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The investigators have also established the details of the truck and its owner, registered in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region, and begun searching his place of residence, it added.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Officials said Russian President Vladimir Putin was informed about the explosion and had ordered the creation of a government panel to deal with the emergency.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In a decree issued hours after the blast, Putin said the Federal Security Service (FSB) would be responsible for strengthening security for the bridge, as well as the infrastructure supplying electricity and natural gas to the peninsula, according to Interfax news agency.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ukrainian officials celebrated the incident, but did not claim responsibility, with the head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, Oleksiy Danilov, posting a video of the burning bridge on social media alongside a video of Marilyn Monroe singing “Happy birthday, Mr President”, a reference to Putin’s 70th birthday on Friday.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak, meanwhile, suggested late Saturday that Moscow was involved in the blast.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“It is worth noting that the truck that detonated, according to all indications, entered the bridge from the Russian side. So the answers should be sought in Russia,” he said said in comments released by the presidency.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><b>‘A big blow’ to the Russians</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Meanwhile, Alexandre Vautravers, the editor-in-chief of Swiss Military Review, cast doubt that a truck was indeed solely behind the explosion, saying a vehicle carrying explosives “is probably not going to produce this much damage” without other explosives being planted on the bridge.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“I think we need to take with a grain of salt the story that is being told to us about how this truck arrived there and all of a sudden produced all of this damage,” he told Al Jazeera.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“The most realistic are two explanations: One would be a laser guided bomb of at least 125 kilos and the other possibility would be sabotage from special forces or from partisans and I think this is something to explore.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Al Jazeera’s Mohamad Vall, reporting from Moscow, said the explosion represented a “big blow” to the Russians.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Russians are still trying to make sense of what happened,” Vall said, adding that the bridge is a key supply line between mainland Russia and Crimea.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Reporting from the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, Al Jazeera’s Rory Challands said there was “jubilation” in Ukraine after the incident.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“This does strike at Vladimir Putin’s prestige. It does strike Vladimir Putin’s image of control. And I think under the bravado of Ukraine at the moment, there might be some nervousness about what his response might be to this,” he added.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“It also gives the Russians a very big headache when it comes to supplying their southern front in Ukraine because the [Russian] army … at the moment is largely supplied by rail networks and that main railway network for the southern front came through Crimea across the Kerch bridge,” Challands said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He said now the only other route by rail is via the north shore of the Sea of Azov and that is currently about 30 to 40 kilometres from the front lines.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Images shared on social media purported to show fire and damage to the span.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Tass news agency also reported the fire. Ukraine’s media reported an explosion at the road and rail bridge at about 6am (03:00 GMT). Source: Aljazeera</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>