Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday called the attack that damaged the huge bridge connecting Russia to its annexed territory of Crimea "a terrorist act" masterminded by Ukrainian special services.The Kerch Bridge, which holds important strategic and symbolic value to Russia in its faltering war in Ukraine, was hit a day earlier by what Moscow has said was a truck bomb.
Road and rail traffic on the bridge were temporarily halted, damaging a vital supply route for the Kremlin’s forces."There’s no doubt it was a terrorist act directed at the destruction of critically important civilian infrastructure of the Russian Federation," Putin said during a meeting with the chairman of Russia’s Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin. "And the authors, perpetrators, and those who ordered it are the special services of Ukraine."RELATED: Risk of nuclear 'Armageddon' highest since 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, Biden saysBastrykin said Ukrainian special services and citizens of Russia and other countries took part in the attack.
He said a criminal investigation had been launched into an act of terror.Explosion causes fire at the Kerch bridge in the Kerch Strait, Crimea on October 08, 2022. (Photo by Vera Katkova/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) "We have already established the route of the truck," he said, saying it had been to Bulgaria, Georgia, Armenia, North Ossetia and Krasnodar, a region in southern Russia.In Kyiv, presidential adviser Mikhail Podolyak called Putin's accusation "too cynical even for Russia.""Putin accuses Ukraine of terrorism?" he said. "It has not even been 24 hours since Russian planes fired 12 rockets into a residential area of Zaporizhzhia, killing 13 people and injuring more than 50.