Ukrainians are posing in front of a giant mocked-up commemorative stamp showing Russia’s bridge to Crimea on fire after it was damaged on Saturday morning.
The propaganda potential of the rail and road bridge linking the annexed peninsula to Russia proper being partly destroyed has been realised quickly, with a giant mock commemorative postage stamp featuring an artist’s impression of the event appearing quickly in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv (Kiev).
KYIV, UKRAINE – OCTOBER 08: People pose for photographs in front of a picture of a postage stamp showing an artists impression of the Kerch bridge on fire on October 8th, 2022 in central Kyiv, Ukraine. A large fire on the only crossing between the occupied Crimean peninsula and Russia was caused by a lorry explosion, Russian officials say. In recent weeks, Ukraine has made significant gains in the east and south of the country, taking back areas once held by Russia during the seven-month-long war. (Photo by Ed Ram/Getty Images)
Video footage appeared on Saturday morning showing the key piece of infrastructure, opened by the Russians in 2018, engulfed in flames and partly collapsed.
RIA Novosti, a Russian news organisation owned by the state, reported the National Anti-Terrorism Committee as saying that “on the automobile part of the Crimean bridge from the side of the Taman Peninsula , a truck was blown up, which resulted in the ignition of seven fuel tanks of a railway train” — although this account of the incident has not been independently verified.
This video grab taken and released on October 8th, 2022 shows thick black smoke rising from a fire on the Kerch bridge that links Crimea to Russia. – Moscow announced on October 8, 2022 that a truck exploded igniting a huge fire and damaging the key Kerch bridge — built as Russia’s sole land link with annexed Crimea — and vowed to find the perpetrators, without immediately blaming Ukraine. (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)
As of the time of publication, Ukraine’s official position on the damage to the bridge remained somewhat amiguous, although an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky did post a picture showing a section of it sunk beneath the waves with a caption appearing to take credit.
“Crimea, the bridge, the beginning.,” he wrote.
“Everything illegal must be destroyed, everything stolen must be returned to Ukraine, everything occupied by Russia must be expelled.”
CRIMEA – OCTOBER 08: A screen grab from a surveillance footage shows flames and smoke rising up after an explosion at the Kerch bridge in the Kerch Strait, Crimea, October 8th, 2022. A bridge connecting Crimea to Russia caught fire early Saturday morning causing suspension of traffic as all train services to Crimea temporarily suspended. 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. (Photo by Security Camera/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Other senior Ukrainian figures have suggested the damage to the bridge, inflicted the morning after Russian president Vladimir Putin’s 70th birthday, might be attributed simply to shoddy Russian workmanship, however.
“Russian illegal construction is starting to fall apart and catch fire. The reason is simple: if you build something explosive, then sooner or later it will explode,” wrote David Arakhamia, the de jure leader of Zelesnsky’s Servant of the People party, on Telegram.
“And this is just the beginning. Of all things, reliable construction is not something Russia is particularly famous for,” he jabbed.
Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the generally celebratory “ reaction of the Kyiv regime to the destruction of civilian infrastructure shows its terrorist nature” — although Russia has itself targeted dams and power plants in recent weeks.
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