Two Storm Shadow missiles have been fired at a bridge linking Russia to the annexed Crimean peninsula, the Kremlin has claimed.
Pictures on social media show plumes of smoke rising near the Kerch bridge with Russia’s defence ministry claiming a pair of S-300 missiles were not shot down causing damage.
Ukraine has not commented on the alleged attack.
Crimea’s Moscow-appointed governor, Sergei Aksyonov, reported that Russian air defence had shot down two Ukrainian missiles.
“The Ukrainian missile was detected in a timely manner and was intercepted in the air by Russian air defence systems. No damage or casualties were reported,” the ministry said in a statement.
“There can be no justification for such barbaric actions and they will not go unanswered,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on Telegram.
Separately, Russian forces destroyed 20 Ukrainian drones launched onto the Crimean Peninsula earlier on Saturday, Russia’s Defence Ministry said.
There have been at least two other attacks targeting the bridge in the past few months.
The Kerch bridge was opened in 2018 and enables road and rail travel between Russia and Crimea – Ukrainian territory annexed by Russia in 2014.
It is a key resupply route for Russian forces occupying parts of southern Ukraine.
The S-300s are Cold War-era surface-to-air weapons originally designed to destroy enemy aircraft that have been adapted for ground-attack use.
The 12-mile Kerch Bridge carries heavy significance for Valdimir Putin, both logistically and psychologically, as a key artery for military and civilian supplies.
Last week, a Ukrainian sea drone hit a Russian tanker near the bridge, while an attack on the bridge last month killed a couple and seriously wounded their daughter, leaving a section of the road damaged.
In October 2022 the bridge was badly damaged after Russia said a truck packed with explosives exploded while crossing.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in July that attacks on Russian territory are an “inevitable, natural, and absolutely fair process.”
In addition, Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak told Ukrainian 24 on Friday that drone attacks on Russian territory will become “more frequent and effective.”
The Crimean Bridge, also known as the Kerch Bridge as it crosses the Kerch Strait, connects mainland Russia with the Crimean Peninsula, which has been under its control since 2014.
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