Big explosion reported at Russia’s Crimean Bridge. t.me/novaya_europe/…
Oleg Kryuchkov, an advisor to the head of Russia’s Crimean govt, says the fire was caused by an exploded fuel tanker crossing the bridge. The bridge’s support arches are reportedly undamaged. t.me/kryuchkovoleg/…
Looks like a train is burning.
Local officials have “promptly deployed” a lot with water and toilets for the motorists stranded at the bridge’s entrance. t.me/tass_agency/15…
Another photo of what appears to be a burning train on the bridge. 
Higher res pic. Not clear how badly damaged this lower part of the bridge is / will be.
wow
According to Crimea Railway, a Russian state unitary enterprise, a fuel tank exploded at the tail of a freight train crossing over the bridge. Kudos to the TASS photojournalist who managed to capture occupied Crimea in all its barbed and burning glory.
Russia’s Federal Agency for Maritime and River Transport reported that the fire has not affected shipping through the Kerch Strait. t.me/tass_agency/15…
Zero reported injuries in this incident. If Ukraine is responsible, it managed it bloodlessly, to boot. t.me/readovkanews/4…
Ukraine’s Parliament has a laugh about the fire and Russia’s so-far nonreaction.
And there she goes.
Russia is successfully putting out the Crimean Bridge fire by allowing it to collapse into the Kerch Strait. Take that, NATO!
The Crimean Bridge right now.
Coming to theaters this Christmas — Occupied Crimea: Kerch City of Atlantis
Meanwhile, Maria Butina is posting about Tara Reade and Joe Biden. Yo, Masha, the scheduled content is not a good look! t.me/mariabutina/61…
Hot take: Prigozhin launched this attack to undermine Shoigu!
MEANWHILE, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station is now operating its cooling systems on backup **diesel** engines after more shelling (likely by the Russian military pretending to be the Ukrainian military). t.me/glavmedia/2036…
Deleted that Varlamov video. Too iffy, and some indications that it’s from some other incident.
Nice weather today in Kerch, by the way. A great time to step outside and admire the fireball on the horizon.
P.S. I’ve decided that I am just going to shitpost until the ICBMs disrupt my Internet connection.
Yandex optimistically forecasts that the bridge will only be closed until the end of the day. 💩
Hope this guy isn’t regularly late because this excuse seems a bit extreme: “Hello, Tolya! I’ll be late, well, the bridge is on fire.”
Oleg Kryuchkov, an advisor to the head of Russia’s government in Crimea, says peninsula has backup supplies of food and fuel in case of disruption to traffic over the bridge. Food and … fuel, you say?
BREAKING NEWS: the No. 28 Moscow-Simferopol and No. 170 St. Petersburg-Simferopol passenger trains will be late. “Passengers are asked to stay tuned for new information.”
Motorists in Kerch are reportedly making a run on the local gas stations, worried that the loss of the bridge means imminent fuel shortages. t.me/smirusnews/180…
Sounds like some spectacular synchronization here: Sources at Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee told the news outlet RBC that a freight truck exploded initially, causing seven fuel tanks aboard a passing train to explode. t.me/rbc_news/59899
Crimean Parliament Speaker Vladimir Konstantinov has blamed “Ukrainian vandals” for damaging the bridge’s roadways, though he insists that the harm will be repaired soon. P.S. most recent photo of the roadways: t.me/rian_ru/180841
Early photo of the bridge fire before the roadway collapsed. Seems to corroborate the story about a truck explosion leading to the train fire, but the day is still young.
More footage purportedly showing the moment of the explosion(s). This video looks more plausible. t.me/glavmedia/2037…
Vladimir Putin has instructed his cabinet to create a government commission “in connection with the emergency on the Crimean bridge,” his press secretary has announced.
More videos pouring in now.
Seems like the “nobody was injured” claim will need to be updated.
More videos from some motorists who decided to get awfully close to the roadway that was moments from collapsing into the water.
Crimean Bridge’s support pillars not looking so hot. Well, they look hot, but not good. You know what I mean.
Kremlin spox Dmitry Peskov says officials still cannot estimate the time needed to restore the bridge to working order. Like the rest of us, they’re presumably waiting to see how much of it melts. t.me/rian_ru/180848
Russian Senator Alexander Bashkin says Moscow will answer Crimean Bridge attack with a “possibly asymmetric response.” Duma deputy Oleg Morozov says the “terrorist attack” is a declaration of “war without rules.” t.me/rian_ru/180849
Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior Ukrainian presidential aide:
https://twitter.com/Podolyak_M/status/1578628414197485569
The fire is mostly out. Here’s what is left of the bridge.
Motorists in Crimea are mobbing gas stations. The Crimean Bridge is major infrastructure for the peninsula under Russian occupation. Today’s fire/explosion affects every single person living in Crimea.
Back in July, Russian Sec Council Dep Chairman (& former President lol) Dmitry Medvedev threatened a “swift and terrible” “Judgment Day” for the Ukrainian authorities if they attacked Crimea. (There have been attacks against targets in Crimea since, but the bridge is different.)
Bad news for trains and cars, but the Kerch Ferry Crossing is back, baby! The first ship is already loading with three more preparing to disembark. t.me/rian_ru/180858
Yandex is now showing the Crimean Bridge closed until October 31. Spooky!
Russian officials in Crimea have imposed per-item sales limits at grocery stores as the local population panics about supply shortages, now that the bridge is out of commission. t.me/ostorozhno_nov…
The head of RT writes a single-character comment on the bridge explosion: “And?” She’s waiting for the military response, clearly. She wrote a whole romcom movie script about the bridge. Second only to Putin, perhaps, she had a lot of her public image tied up in this thing.
UPDATE: Crimean official Oleg Kruykov denies the reports about sales controls at grocery stores, indicating that there was some miscommunication. t.me/meduzalive/708…
The Kremlin is reportedly telling the Russian state media to say that the Crimean Bridge “isn’t destroyed and was merely damaged.” Guidelines are to stress the repair work and talk up alternate routes and the ferry service. t.me/meduzalive/708…
Ukrainian govt ministries “are so cringe” sometimes.
https://twitter.com/DefenceU/status/1578651480294592513
Also, the capitalization politics here.
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