President of Russia Vladimir Putin held an open meeting with ministers and regional governors about the early-morning explosion on the bridge linking the occupied Crimean peninsula to Russia. The meeting was broadcast on state-owned television news network Russia 24 and on the Kremlin’s dedicated channel.
At the meeting’s opening, Putin said he was expecting suggestions for improving security on the bridge. He also instructed the FSB and Russia’s Investigative Committee to “work out in detail what happened.”
The Russian president called the incident a “terrorist attack by the Kyiv regime” and a “senseless crime,” adding that the bridge had “long been out of use” for military transport.
“There will be an answer from Russia, of course. The Defense Ministry is preparing proposals,” Putin said.
Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin told the president that the bridge support pillars had not been damaged but that one span of the roadway was destroyed and could not be repaired.
Khusnullin said that car traffic in one direction would likely resume by the end of the day. He estimated that two-way traffic would resume on one side of the bridge by September 15, and on the other side in November.
Sergey Aksyonov, head of the annexed Crimean peninsula, promised that the backlog of cars at the Kerch ferry terminal would be gone in 24 hours.