Crimea bridge reopens after Ukraine says it carried out underwater explosion

Adam Goldsmith
Live reporter

Image source, Reuters

Traffic has resumed across Crimea’s Kerch Bridge this afternoon, hours after Ukraine struck its foundations with underwater explosives.

A hated symbol for Ukrainians, the bridge had been opened to fanfare by Vladimir Putin in 2018, and is used by Russia to supply its military in occupied parts of Ukraine.

Our Verify team geolocated the explosion to the eastern edge of the road bridge, which was quickly closed, before reopening, and then closing again.

The early morning explosion marked was the latest operation in Ukraine’s saga of striking inside Russia.

On Sunday, Volodymyr Zelensky declared that an operation known as “Spider’s Web” had seen more than 100 smuggled drones hit a third of Russia’s bomber planes deep in the country.

Meanwhile, Russian strikes on civilian centres continue, with four people reportedly killed and 28 injured in the north-eastern border city of Sumy.

Despite this, the two sides met just yesterday for a second round of peace talks, where a further prisoner swap was agreed, but Ukrainian negotiators suggested that Russia had again rejected an “unconditional ceasefire”.

We’re bringing our live coverage to a close for now, but we’ll be keeping our news story updated with any updates.