Crimea bridge partly reopens after huge blast, Russia says

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Ukrainian investigators have recorded 1,100 war crimes committed by Russian troops in the occupied part of the Kharkiv region, according to the regional police force.

Most of the criminal proceedings, about 1,000, were launched over the violation of laws and customs of war, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency says.

It further also said mine clearance experts have inspected 1,287 hectares of de-occupied territory and found 20,903 explosive items - of which 1,462 have so far been destroyed.

The damage to the Kerch bridge - which links Russia to Crimea - poses a strategic setback for Moscow’s troops, according to Dr Samuel Ramani, author of ‘Putin’s war on Ukraine’.

“They have more than 20,000 forces that are stuck in Kherson right now. They've lost access to bridges, they’re relying on pontoon ferries, and they desperately need ammunition, food and supplies from Crimea,” he says.

Russia is strategically in a more dire situation than it was at the start of the week, he adds.

The loss of Kharkiv was a major morale and logistical setback for Russia, and the loss of Lyman cut off another logistical route, which “has dealt them a serious blow”.

He says: "Whenever Russia’s tried to disperse their forces they’ve always failed, but Ukraine has been able to sustain offensives on Luhansk, Donetsk and Kherson at the same time. They might now be opening a new one on Zaporizhzhia.”

Ramani adds that this is a “big concern” for Russia as Ukraine may have more territory than it had in February by the time 20,000 of its troops arrive on the frontlines.

Russia's forces may not have adequate supply lines to feed and equip themselves, he says.

Following the news this morning about the bridge explosion in annexed Crimea, people in Kyiv have been giving their reaction.

Some have been posing next to an image which has been propped up in the capital depicting the blast on a stamp.

Russia's Ministry of Defence has named General Sergei Surovikin as the new commander of its troops fighting in Ukraine

His appointment follows a string of Russian defeats in the country.

Until now, Surovikin, who commands Russia's Air Force, was also in charge of Russian troops in southern Ukraine.

In an interview with the BBC, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Russian officials were beginning to “prepare their society” for the use of nuclear weapons.

However, he says Russia is “not ready" to use nuclear weapons.

"They don't know if they will use or they will not use. I think it is dangerous to even speak about it," Zelensky tells the BBC.

Zelensky says Russia’s President Vladimir Putin is afraid “of his own people” as they were the only ones who could strip him of his power and give it to someone else.

Asked if Putin will survive if Ukraine wins the war, Zelensky responds: "I don't care".

Read more of the BBC's interview with the Ukrainian leader here.

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Elsewhere in Ukraine, overnight shelling cut the power line supplying the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, the UN atomic watchdog says.

Russia and Ukraine have blamed each other for shelling at the site of Europe's biggest nuclear plant that has damaged buildings and threatened a catastrophic nuclear accident.

Even though Zaporizhzhia's six reactors are shut down, the plant is now relying on emergency diesel generators for the electricity it needs for reactor cooling and other essential nuclear safety and security functions.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is pushing for a protection zone to be set up to prevent further shelling.

IAEA's chief Rafael Grossi says: "The resumption of shelling, hitting the plant's sole source of external power, is tremendously irresponsible.

"The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant must be protected.

"I will soon travel to the Russian Federation, and then return to Ukraine, to agree on a nuclear safety and security protection zone around the plant.

"This is an absolute and urgent imperative."

Railway traffic on the road and rail bridge linking Russia and the Crimean peninsula is expected to resume at 20:00 (17:00 GMT), the Interfax news agency reports, citing Russia's transport ministry.

"Currently, a primary assessment of the state of the infrastructure of the railway part of the Crimean bridge has been carried out on whether it is possible to allow train passage," the ministry said in a statement, adding that "according to experts", rail transport could resume this evening.

An explosion that brought down part of the bridge occurred at around 06:00. The road and railway bridge is an important supply route for Russian forces fighting in southern Ukraine.

If you're just joining us here is a quick recap of what has happened in Crimea.

• At 06:07 local time (03:07 GMT) an explosion rocked a road and rail bridge which links Russia with the annexed Crimean peninsula
• Dramatic CCTV video shows a huge explosion – with a ball of flames engulfing part of the bridge
• Russian investigators say they believe a lorry was blown up, causing a fuel train to catch fire
• Mobile phone footage from the scene shows that two sections of the road bridge have collapsed
• At least three people are believed to have been killed in the blast
• A criminal investigation has been opened by Russia's Investigative Committee
• Pro-Kremlin officials in Crimea have blamed the explosion on “Ukrainian vandals”. Kyiv has not claimed responsibility

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The Russian-installed head of Crimea says that work on repairing the Crimean bridge may begin as early as today.

As we've reported, Sergei Aksyonov has tried to reassure people living in the region that there is enough food and fuel supplies.

"We have fuel for a whole month, and there should be no hike in prices," Aksyonov says in a video message broadcast on Russian-state Rossiya 24 news channel.

He adds: "We have food stocks for more than two months - practically in everything. There are no risks in this area.

"Work on repairing the Crimean bridge will be carried out without any bureaucracy. We are practically starting today, as soon as the Investigations Committee and the FSB [Federal Security Service] finish their work."

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As we've been reporting many Ukrainians have been discussing the bridge explosion on social media and Ukraine's defence ministry has compared it to the sinking of Russia's flagship Black Sea missile cruiser Moskva in April.

Russia's foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova says the reaction in Kyiv testified to what she called the terrorist nature of the incident.

Elsewhere, the Russian-appointed head of occupied Crimea has appealed for calm.

Writing on Telegram, Sergei Aksyonov is seeking to reassure residents that the Crimea peninsula has adequate stocks of fuel and food.

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The images are dramatic – and embarrassing for Moscow.

CCTV footage shows a massive explosion, a huge ball of flames and thick black smoke rising over the Kerch bridge that joins Russia to Crimea.

Mobile phone footage from the scene reveals sections of the road bridge in the water, having collapsed.

The incident happened just after six o’clock this morning local time. According to Russia’s National Anti-Terrorist Committee, first a lorry was blown up. Then seven fuel cisterns of a freight train caught fire on the parallel rail bridge.

President Putin has set up a government commission to examine what exactly happened and to oversee repairs. Russia’s Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case.

Already some pro-Kremlin commentators have come to their own conclusions about who was behind this and are calling for Russia to strike back hard against Kyiv.

It’s unclear how the Kremlin will react.

The Kerch road and rail bridge is not only strategically important: the only bridge linking the Russian mainland to the Crimean Peninsula.

In many ways, it a symbol of the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014. By building it, the Kremlin was trying to show that – as far as Moscow’s concerned - Russia and Crimea are joined forever.

When the bridge was opened in 2018, Russian state media hailed it as “The construction of the century.” The 12-mile bridge is the longest in Europe.

On many occasions Russian officials had claimed that the bridge was well protected from any potential threats, from air, land or water.

This has not been a good week for the Kremlin’s so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine.

Russia has continued to sustain territorial losses; on TV talk shows here, presenters and studio guests have been expressing increasing doom and gloom about the situation.

And now this: an explosion on a key bridge.

Road and rail traffic across the bridge has been suspended. Local authorities in Crimea say they will organise a ferry service between the Russian mainland and the peninsula. There are reports of long queues of cars outside petrol stations.

Ukraine's defence ministry has compared the explosion on the bridge that links the occupied Crimean peninsula and Russia to the sinking of Russia's flagship Black Sea missile cruiser Moskva in April.

It tweeted: "Two notorious symbols of Russian power in Ukrainian Crimea - have gone down. What's next?"

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As we've been reporting the bridge is so symbolically important as it was built by the Russians after it annexed Crimea in 2014.

Sir Lawrence Freedman, a retired professor of war studies at King's College London, feels the Russian troops could now be "in a great deal of trouble" following the explosion.

He has been telling BBC Radio 4's Today Programme: "The Ukrainians haven't just targeted territory or [carried out] attacks on individuals, they have attacked logistics, command and ammunition dumps.

"The Kerch Bridge itself is an example of that so that they [the Russians] have a problem of re-supply.

"Even when they've got an impressive group of soldiers who are still there, well armed and ready to fight back, they can't keep them going if they can't get stuff to them.

"So I think they're in a lot of trouble," he says.

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Some more reaction now to this morning's explosion on the only crossing between the occupied Crimean peninsula and Russia.

Crimean parliamentary speaker Vladimir Kontantinov has blamed it on “Ukrainian vandals”.

Writing on Telegram, he said: "In the 23 years that they were in charge, they did not manage to build anything worthy of attention in Crimea, but they have managed to damage the Russian bridge.

“This is the whole essence of the Kyiv regime and of the Ukrainian state. Death and destruction is the only thing they can do."

Konstantinov added that damage to the Crimean bridge "will be promptly restored, since it is not of a serious nature".