President Vladimir V. Putin on Sunday accused Ukraine of being behind the attack on the bridge connecting Crimea with Russia, calling it an act of terrorism.
“There is no doubt that this is a terrorist attack aimed at destroying extremely important civilian infrastructure of the Russian Federation,” Putin said.
Putin’s speech was his first on Saturday’s explosion on the Kerch Strait BridgeThis disrupted the most important supply route for Russian troops fighting in southern Ukraine and dealt an embarrassing blow to the Kremlin as it continued to face battlefield losses and subject to much criticism at home.
The comments were made during a meeting with Alexander Bastrykin, the head of the Investigative Committee, Russia’s main federal criminal investigation agency. A short transcript of the exchange between the two was posted on the Kremlin’s website.
Part of the bridge collapsed after the explosion. Within hours of an explosion, hardline military bloggers and Russian officials were call for a quick and strong response from Moscow.
The attack was seen as a significant setback for Moscow both symbolically and practically, damaging a period of personal importance to Mr. Putin and essential to resupplying forces. Russian forces as they defended against a growing Ukrainian counterattack along the southern front.
A day after the explosion, details on how it was made are still scant. Although Ukrainian officials made no secret of their satisfaction, the Kyiv government did not publicly claim responsibility for the attack.
However, an unnamed senior Ukrainian official confirmed that Ukrainian intelligence agencies were behind the bombing. Officials said explosives were loaded onto a truck traveling up the bridge and exploded.
However, the official did not know what happened to the truck driver or whether the driver was aware of the bomb.
Michael Schwirtz contribution report.
