A screen grab from a surveillance footage shows flames and smoke rising up after an explosion at the Kerch bridge (aka the Crimean Bridge) in the Kerch Strait. Photo / Getty Images
A screen grab from a surveillance footage shows flames and smoke rising up after an explosion at the Kerch bridge (aka the Crimean Bridge) in the Kerch Strait. Photo / Getty Images
An enormous truck bomb or a suicide drone could have been used to blow up Vladimir Putin's favourite bridge, experts believe.
Putin is preparing to step up his assault on Ukraine after the Kerch Bridge to Crimea was hit by a huge explosion yesterday, Western analysts believe.
Russia is reportedly fuming after a massive gaping hole was blown in the bridge - a highly symbolic link between Putin's mainland and annexed Crimea.
The Kremlin previously warned any attack on the Kerch Strait would be a red line and would trigger "judgement day".
Flame and smoke rise fron Crimean Bridge connecting Russian mainland and Crimean peninsula over the Kerch Strait. Photo / AP
Video and pictures show the size of the blast which collapsed part of the road and set fire to a fuel train on the nearby railway line.
The explosion on the 19km bridge just before dawn yesterday killed three people and cut a crucial supply line for Russian forces fighting on Ukraine's southern front.
Explosion theories emerge
The exact cause of the explosion remains unknown but two theories have emerged.
The leading theory - and the one supported by Russia - is the explosion was triggered by a truck bomb.
CCTV of the explosion shows the blast on the roadway seemingly centred around a large truck.
Russian authorities have also released pictures of a red truck which they claim was responsible for the explosion.
A helicopter drops water to stop a fire on the bridge connecting the Russian mainland and the Crimean peninsula over the Kerch Strait. Photo / AP
Camera footage from the bridge also shows the truck stopping at a checkpoint before being allowed to pass onto the Kerch Bridge, the Sun reports.
Putin's security services have also named the truck's alleged owner, Samir Yusubov, from Krasnodar, Russia.
"I've got nothing to do with what happened on the Crimean bridge," he told BAZA media.
He suggested his dad's cousin, Makhir, could have been behind the wheel and said he's been unreachable since the explosion.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) - Kyiv's secret service that operates a special forces unit - were reported by leading Ukrainian outlet Pravda to have been behind the blast.
The SBU has not yet commented on the claims.
Both railway and vehicle spans of Kerch bridge are damaged & will take time to be restored.
This means that supplying Russian troops in the South of 🇺🇦 will be very difficult.
Military equipment, ammunition, fuel coming through Kerch bridge won't be coming for a long time. pic.twitter.com/fyAkWa8GPq
Another theory based around the truck bomb explosion comes from pro-Putin commentator Yuri Podolyaka, who claimed it could have been a remotely controlled explosion planted by the Ukrainians.
He suggested the driver may have been "in the dark" about the "deadly cargo" they were carrying in the trailer - or it could have been a deliberate suicide mission.
A former British Army expert on bridge demolitions, Tony Spamer, discounted the truck bomb theory.
He told the Wall Street Journal a truck bomb would have blown a hole in the road, but not triggered a structural collapse.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, holds a pair of binoculars while watching a joint strategic exercise of the armed forces, as Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu sits nearby. Photo / AP
"You've got to attack the whole width of the bridge. Looking at it, it looks like it was attacked from underneath," Spamer said.
"It's a monster job."
Other theories on the strike however point to a mysterious shape moving beneath the bridge caught on CCTV moments before the explosion.
It has been suggested this could be a bomb-laden suicide drone.
Putin convened an emergency meeting of his Cabinet in the morning. By the evening, the Kremlin had only said that it would bolster its defences around the bridge, but Russian officials said they expected an aggressive response.
"This was a declaration of war without rules," said Alexander Bashkin, a Russian senator, adding that the Kremlin response will be "adequate, conscious and, possibly, asymmetric".
A helicopter brings water to fight the fire on the bridge between Crimea and the Russian mainland. Photo / AP
Russian investigators said the blast had been caused by a truck exploding, but stopped short of accusing Ukraine.
Kyiv has not claimed responsibility for the blast, but an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this was "just the beginning", adding: "Everything that is stolen must be returned to Ukraine".
The Ukrainian security service said: "The bridge burns beautifully".
Zelensky himself followed up the news with a comical weather report.
During his nightly video address on Telegram, the Ukrainian leader quipped that the conditions were "cloudy in Crimea".
Zelensky said: "Today was a good and mostly sunny day in our country... Over most of the territory, it was about 20 degrees Celsius and sunny.
"Unfortunately, it was cloudy in Crimea, although it was still warm. But however the clouds are, Ukrainians know what to do, and they know that our future is sunny.
"This is the future without invaders, on all our territory, in particular in Crimea."
Western analysts said Russia's president would escalate his assault on Ukraine, with the threat of nuclear warfare increased.
A big screen showing Russian President Vladimir Putin. Photo / AP
General Lord Dannatt GCB, CBE, MC, DL, the former head of the British Army, said he expected more indiscriminate shelling of Ukrainian civilian targets, and that there was also the risk Putin "might go nuclear".
The Crimea Bridge across the Kerch Straits, a pet project of Putin's, was partially reopened to traffic last night, but video footage showed extensive damage. Part of the road bridge had collapsed into the sea, and a fire had destroyed a section of the railway that runs alongside it.
