ARAB AND WORLD
Wed 15 Mar 2023 8:31 pm - Jerusalem Time
Ukraine threatens to dismantle a bridge linking Russia to Crimea
Kiev - (AFP) - Ukraine threatened Wednesday to dismantle the Kerch Bridge, which Moscow built at a high cost to link Russia with Crimea , as several explosions occurred at Russian military bases.
"This bridge is an illegal structure and Ukraine did not allow its construction. It harms the ecology of the peninsula and therefore it must be dismantled. It does not matter how: deliberately or not," Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak wrote on Telegram.
Inaugurated by Russian President Vladimir Putin in May 2018, the 19-kilometer-long Kerch Bridge is a huge and expensive project that took two years to build to connect Russia with Crimea and aims to reduce the peninsula's isolation four years after its annexation.
This veiled threat from Podolyak comes after a series of explosions in Crimea, which Russia uses as a rear base for its invasion of Ukraine that began on February 24.
On Tuesday, an attack targeted an ammunition depot at a military site near the village of Djankoy in northern Crimea, which Moscow said was the result of a "sabotage" act, without accusing any party of being behind it.
On August 9, Moscow reported a munitions explosion at a military air base in Crimea, killing one person and wounding others.
Ukraine has not officially claimed any attack targeting Crimea, but officials have made comments on more than one occasion that suggest that Ukrainian forces may be involved in these attacks.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stressed that Kiev will "never give up" its intention to recover Crimea from Russia.
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Ukraine threatens to dismantle a bridge linking Russia to Crimea