Hours After Putin Turns 70, Bridge Between Russia and Crimea Ignites: 'Happy Birthday, Mr. President'

Brenton Blanchet
·3 min read
7
Hours After Putin Turns 70, Bridge Between Russia and Crimea Ignites: 'Happy Birthday, Mr. President'
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

A bridge linking Russia and the Crimean Peninsula was the center of an explosion on Saturday when a truck blew up and collapsed a section of it. The bridge sits over the Kerch Strait, which is a supply route for Moscow's forces in Ukraine and is part of the port of Sevastopol, the location of the Russian Black Sea fleet.

Russian President Vladimir Putin called the explosion an "act of terrorism" from Ukraine on Sunday, two days after his 70th birthday, despite Ukraine officials not claiming responsibility for the attack, reported Reuters.

"There is no doubt. This is an act of terrorism aimed at destroying critically important civilian infrastructure," Putin said on the Kremlin's Telegram channel alongside Alexander Bastrykin, the head of Russia's Investigative Committee, per Reuters. "This was devised, carried out and ordered by the Ukrainian special services."

RELATED: Biden Warns That Chance of Nuclear 'Armageddon' Is Highest Since 1960s: Putin Is 'Not Joking'

The explosion partially destroyed the bridge — with images of the aftermath showing a chunk of the bridge sitting in the water — and lit fuel tanks of a train on fire. Russia's Investigative Committee shared in a statement obtained by NBC News that three people died in the blast, including a man and a woman whose bodies were found in the water. Work to repair the bridge, which is a symbol of Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, will begin immediately and officials reopened it partially on Saturday.

Editorial use only. HANDOUT /NO SALES Mandatory Credit: Photo by UKRAINE SECURITY SERVICE HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock (13448165a) A handout photo made available by the Ukraine Security Service (SSU) shows a collapsed part of the Kerch Strait bridge in Crimea, 08 October 2022. According to Russian authorities, "an explosion was set off at a cargo vehicle on the motorway part of the Crimean bridge on the side of the Taman peninsula, which set fire to seven fuel tanks of a train that was en route to the Crimean peninsula. Two motorway sections of the bridge partially collapsed." Parts of Crimea bridge collapse follwing fire, Kerch Strait, Ukraine - 08 Oct 2022

UKRAINE SECURITY SERVICE HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Ukrainian officials, nearly eight months after Russia first invaded the country, have been sharing some positive messages about the explosion but have not taken responsibility for it. Among them, Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, used the phrase "the beginning" in a Twitter statement featuring the bridge.

RELATED: At Least 25 Killed in Alleged Russian Rocket Attack on Humanitarian Convoy in Ukraine

MOSCOW, RUSSIA - SEPTEMBER 30 (RUSSIA OUT) Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during the signing ceremony with separatist leaders on the annexation of four Ukrainian regions at the Grand Kremlin Palace, on September 30, 2022 in Moscow, Russia. Separatist leaders of annexed Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhya regions of Ukriane have arrived in Moscow to sign joint documents. (Photo by Contributor/Getty Images)

Contributor/Getty

"Everything illegal must be destroyed, everything that is stolen must be returned to Ukraine, everything occupied by Russia must be expelled," he wrote.

Podolyak later responded to Putin's claims of terrorism, saying that "there is only one terrorist state here, and the whole world knows who it is." As he noted, Putin's statement came after a Russian missile attack struck an apartment block and other residential buildings in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, and killed at least 13 people and injured "more than 50."

Following the explosion, Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, posted the clip of Marilyn Monroe singing happy birthday to U.S. President John F. Kennedy in 1962. The video was shared side-by-side with a clip of the explosion aftermath, seemingly as a nod to Putin's birthday, and included the caption "good morning, Ukraine."

The bridge itself, which cost $3.6 billion and is the longest in Europe at 12 miles long, was opened by Putin in May 2018 when he led several trucks across it and drove one on his own.

Mandatory Credit: Photo by Uncredited/AP/Shutterstock (13448163a) Helicopter drops water to stop fire on Crimean Bridge connecting Russian mainland and Crimean peninsula over the Kerch Strait, in Kerch, . Russian authorities say a truck bomb has caused a fire and the collapse of a section of a bridge linking Russia-annexed Crimea with Russia. The bridge is a key supply artery for Moscow's faltering war effort in southern Ukraine Russia Ukraine, Kerch - 08 Oct 2022

Uncredited/AP/Shutterstock

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up to date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Just as recently as Thursday, President Joe Biden issued a warning about Putin, when he said that the Russian leader is "not joking" about nuclear threats. The way he explained it, the world has  "not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis."

"First time since the Cuban Missile Crisis, we have a direct threat of the use [of a] nuclear weapon if in fact, things continue down the path they are going," Biden said at a New York City fundraiser. "I'm trying to figure out what is Putin's off ramp?"

The Russian attack on Ukraine is an evolving story, with information changing quickly. Follow PEOPLE's complete coverage of the war here, including stories from citizens on the ground and ways to help.