Putin drives across Crimea bridge badly damaged in October bomb attack

Putin also seen walking across the bridge

Russian President Vladimir Putin has taken to the wheel to drive a vehicle across a bridge to Crimea that was badly damaged by a truck bomb attack in the Autumn.

On Monday, Mr Putin, accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin, was shown on Russian state TV driving a Mercedes across the bridge that links Russia’s mainland with the Crimean Peninsula, annexed by Moscow from Ukraine in 2014.

The symbolic journey came on the same day as Kyiv said Russia had destroyed homes in the southeast and knocked out power in many areas with a new round of missile attacks.

Russia’s president was shown speaking to workers and discussing the repairs of the Kerch Bridge with a senior government official who was responsible for the project.

"We are driving on the right hand side," Mr Putin said, as he drove across the bridge.

He added: "The left side of the bridge, as I understand it, is in working condition, but nevertheless it needs to be completed. It still suffered a little, we need to bring it to an ideal state."

Mr Putin also walked along parts of the bridge - the largest in Europe - to inspect sections that are still visibly burnt from the attack.

The truck bomb attack on the bridge took place on 8 October - the day after Mr Putin’s 70th birthday - and disrupted travel on one of the two automobile lanes of the bridge.

The Russian president’s visit was shown on state TV (AP)

The explosion destroyed one section of the road bridge, temporarily halting traffic across the Kerch Strait. Several fuel tankers on a train heading towards the annexed Crimean peninsula from neighbouring southern Russia were also demolished.

Moscow held Ukrainian military intelligence responsible for the attack and has responded with a series of waves of strikes on Ukraine’s energy facilities and other key infrastructure, the latest of which was launched Monday.

Crimea was annexed by Russia in 2014. It was transferred from Soviet Russia to Soviet Ukraine in 1954 by then Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. It was later recognised by Russia in 1994 after the collapse of the USSR.

Ukraine has vowed that it will return to Crimea, which relies on the bridge for supplies.

The new barrage from Russia had been anticipated for days and came on a day when emergency blackouts were due to end, with previous damage repaired. The strikes plunged parts of Ukraine back into freezing darkness with temperatures nationwide now firmly below zero. However, Kyiv said its air defences limited the damage.

Explosions were also reported at two air bases inside Russia overnight, both hundreds of miles from Ukraine. One of them, the Engels base in the Saratov region, houses bomber planes that are part of Russia’s strategic nuclear forces.

Three people were killed when a fuel tanker exploded at the air base in Ryazan, 185 km (115 miles) southeast of Moscow, state news agency RIA said.

The Engels base, about 730 km (455 miles) south of Moscow, is one of two strategic bomber bases housing Russia’s air-delivered nuclear capability, comprising 60-70 planes.

Previous mysterious blasts have damaged arms stores and fuel depots in Russian regions near Ukraine and knocked out at least seven warplanes in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014.

Moscow has been hitting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure roughly weekly since early October as it has been forced to retreat on some battlefronts.

This time, police in neighbouring Moldova were reported to have found missile fragments on its soil near the border with Ukraine.

In Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region, at least two people were killed and several houses destroyed, the deputy head of the presidential office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, said.

Citizens shelter in Kyiv metro (Getty Images)

Air defences shot down more than 60 of over 70 Russian missiles fired on Monday, Ukraine’s air force command said. This included nine out of 10 missiles fired at Kyiv, officials said.

“Our guys are awesome,” Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian presidential staff, wrote on Telegram.

Ukraine had only just returned to scheduled power outages from Monday rather than the emergency blackouts it has suffered since widespread Russian strikes on Nov. 23, the worst of the attacks on energy infrastructure that began in early October.

Russia has said the barrages are designed to degrade Ukraine’s military. Ukraine says they are clearly aimed at civilians and thus constitute a war crime.

A $60 per barrel price cap on Russian seaborne crude oil took effect on Monday, the latest Western measure to punish Moscow over its invasion. Russia is the world’s second-largest oil exporter.

The agreement allows Russian oil to be shipped to third-party countries using tankers from G7 and European Union member states, insurance companies and credit institutions, only if the cargo is bought at or below the $60 per barrel cap.

Moscow has said it will not abide by the measure even if it has to cut production. Ukraine wants the cap set lower.