Ukraine war: Putin orders tighter security on key bridge from Russia to Crimea after explosion
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree tightening security for a bridge linking the Crimean Peninsula with Russia after an explosion caused part of it to collapse.
Damage to the bridge has hampered an important supply route for the Kremlin’s war in southern Ukraine and represents a strike on a symbol of Russian power in the region.
Nobody has claimed responsibility for the blast, which killed three people.
It comes as a search and rescue operation is underway in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia after Russian shelling hit apartment buildings, killing at least 12 people in the early hours of Sunday.
Zelenskyy adviser calls blast ‘the beginning’ – latest updates
Russian divers will examine the damage caused to the bridge over the Kerch Strait on Sunday.
The National Anti-Terrorism Committee said a truck bomb caused seven railway cars carrying fuel to catch fire, resulting in the “partial collapse of two sections of the bridge”.
A man and a woman riding in a vehicle on the bridge were killed, Russia’s Investigative Committee said. It did not say who the third victim was.
All vehicles crossing the bridge are supposed to undergo state-of-the-art checks for explosives.
The truck that exploded was owned by a resident of the Krasnodar region in southern Russia, the Investigative Committee said. It said his home was searched and experts were investigating the truck’s route.
Russian authorities have said the attack was a “terrorist action” carried out by Ukraine.
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Why is the Crimean Bridge attack significant?
Train and vehicle traffic over the bridge was temporarily suspended though vehicle traffic resumed on Saturday afternoon on one of the two links that remained intact, said Crimea’s Russian-backed leader Sergey Aksyonov.
Rail traffic was resuming slowly, with two passenger trains leaving the Crimean cities of Sevastopol and Simferopol and heading towards the bridge on Saturday evening.
Mr Putin has put Russia’s federal security service, the FSB, in charge of security for the bridge and energy infrastructure between Crimea and Russia.
Hours after the explosion Russia’s defence ministry announced the air force chief, General Sergei Surovikin, would now command Russian troops in Ukraine. He has previously led Russian forces in Syria and has been accused of overseeing a bombardment that destroyed much of Aleppo.
The 12-mile (19km) Kerch Bridge, which sits on a strait between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, is vital for sustaining Russia’s military supply lines in southern Ukraine.
Mr Putin himself presided over the opening of the £3.5bn bridge, the longest in Europe, in 2018.
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2018: When Putin opened Crimea bridge
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy indirectly acknowledged the attack on the bridge but did not address its cause.
Meanwhile, a search and rescue operation is underway in the city of Zaporizhzhia.
Overnight, Russian shells hit apartment buildings, with at least 12 people killed.
Since then, however, the office of the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces has said “dozens” were killed or injured.
The city is in the Ukrainian-controlled part of a region annexed by Mr Putin last week – a move not recognised by other world powers.
City council secretary Anatoliy Kurtev said at least five private houses were destroyed and around 40 were damaged.
Donald Trump has threatened Russia with more sanctions after a series of deadly strikes across Ukraine, as he said of Vladimir Putin: “What the hell happened to him?”
The US president appeared aghast at the conduct of his counterpart in the Kremlin after drone and missile attacks in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities left 12 people dead and dozens more injured.
Trump criticises Putin – latest updates
Speaking to reporters at an airport in New Jersey ahead of a flight back to Washington, Mr Trump said: “I’m not happy with Putin. I don’t know what’s wrong with him.”
“He’s killing a lot of people,” he added. “I’m not happy about that.”
Mr Trump – who said he’s “always gotten along with” Mr Putin – told reporters he would consider more sanctions against Moscow.
“He’s sending rockets into cities and killing people, and I don’t like it at all,” he said.
Ukraine said the barrage of strikes overnight into Sunday was the biggest aerial attack of the war so far, with 367 drones and missiles fired by Russian forces.
It came despite Mr Trump repeatedly talking up the chances of a peace agreement. He even spoke to Mr Putin on the phone for two hours last week.
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Hundreds of drones fired at Ukraine
‘Shameful’ attacks
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Ukraine is ready to sign a ceasefire deal, and suggested Russia isn’t serious about signing one.
In a statement after the latest attacks on his country, he urged the US and other national leaders to increase the pressure on Mr Putin, saying silence “only encourages” him.
Mr Trump’s envoy for the country, Keith Kellogg, later demanded a ceasefire, describing the Russian attacks as “shameful”.
Three children were among those killed in the attacks, explosions shaking the cities of Kyiv, Odesa, and Mykolaiv.
Ukrainian siblings Tamara, 12, Stanislav, eight, and Roman, 17, were killed in Russian airstrikes. Pic: X/@Mariana_Betsa
Before the onslaught, Russia said it had faced a Ukrainian drone attack on Sunday. It said around 100 were intercepted and destroyed near Moscow and in central and southern regions.
The violence has escalated despite Russia and Ukraine completing the exchange of 1,000 prisoners each over the past three days.
Donald Trump says he will delay the imposition of 50% tariffs on goods entering the United States from the European Union until July, as the two sides attempt to negotiate a trade deal.
It comes after the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said in a post on social media site X that she had spoken to Mr Trump and expressed that they needed until 9 July to “reach a good deal”.
The US president had last Friday threatened to bring in the 50% tariffs from 1 June, as European leaders said they were ready to respond with their own measures.
But Mr Trump has now said that date has been put back to 9 July to allow more time for negotiations with the 27-member bloc, with the phone call appearing to smooth over tensions for now at least.
Speaking on Sunday before boarding Air Force One for Washington DC, Mr Trump told reporters that he had spoken to Ms Von der Leyen and she “wants to get down to serious negotiations” and she vowed to “rapidly get together and see if we can work something out”.
The US president, in comments on his Truth Social platform, had reignited fears last Friday of a trade war between the two powers when he said talks were “going nowhere” and the bloc was “very difficult to deal with”.
Mr Trump told the media in Morristown, New Jersey, on Sunday that Ms Von der Leyen “just called me… and she asked for an extension in the June 1st date. And she said she wants to get down to serious negotiation”.
“We had a very nice call and I agreed to move it. I believe July 9th would be the date. That was the date she requested. She said we will rapidly get together and see if we can work something out,” the US president added.
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Shortly after, he wrote on Truth Social: “I agreed to the extension – July 9, 2025 – It was my privilege to do so.”
On his so-called “liberation day” last month, Mr Trump unleashed tariffs on many of America’s trade partners. But since then he’s backed down in a spiralling tit-for-tat tariff face-off with China, and struck a deal with the UK.
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Much of his most incendiary rhetoric on trade has been directed at Brussels, though, even going as far as to claim the EU was created to rip the US off.
Responding to his 50% tariff threat, EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic said: “EU-US trade is unmatched and must be guided by mutual respect, not threats.
“We stand ready to defend our interests.”
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