Russian authorities claim the rail and road bridge linking Russia to the annexed Crimean peninsula is already partly open and the damage to it “insignificant”.
Vladimir Konstantinov, a key figure in Crimea’s Russian-backed regional government, blamed the damage on “Ukrainian vandals, who have finally managed to reach their bloody hands to the Crimean bridge,” according to the BBC.
He said that the crucial and symbolic piece of infrastructure, personally opened by Russian president Vladimir Putin, would be “promptly restored, since [the damage] is not of a serious nature”.
The Russians have revealed that at least three people were killed in the blast, however — passengers in a car engulfed by the conflagration.
