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Various media agencies and website are stating that three people have died due to explosions on a key bridge that connects the Crimean Peninsula with mainland Russia – a big setback for Putin.

Russian authorities were stating that it was a huge fire trigged by a car bomb that destroyed parts of Europe’s longest bridge that connects Russia to Crimea.

Russia’s RIA state news agency said that a fuel tank was on fire on the Kerch Bridge, while Ukraine media reported an explosion.
Photographs and visuals shared by many digital media website show rail  carriages of a train along the parallel bridge too got caught in fireballs.

Traffic has been suspended on the road-and-rail bridge.
“An object believed to be a fuel storage tank has caught fire on the Crimean Bridge, but the viaduct’s navigable arches sustained no damage, an aide to the head of Crimea, Oleg Kryuchkov, said as cited by the Russian news agency TASS.
Meanwhile, the National Anti-Terrorism Committee of Russia said on Saturday that the bridge connecting Crimean Peninsula with mainland Russia was damaged in a blast, which occurred shortly after 6 am local time, caused a partial collapse of the road on the vehicle section.

It also triggered a blaze on a freight train on the parallel rail section, with seven fuel tanks catching fire, according to RT.

The 19-kilometre (11.8 miles) bridge, which runs across the Kerch Strait and connects Crimea with mainland Russia, consists of a railway and vehicle sections.

It became fully operational in 2020.
As per some media reports, the Crimean bridge is a key target for Ukrainian forces who have been attacking Russian logistics.

Notably, Russia recently annexed four regions of Ukraine – Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.