Traffic partially restored on Crimea bridge as furious Putin vows revenge

Vladimir Putin has said his defence ministry is readying proposals for a response to an overnight attack on a bridge in Crimea as he blamed Ukraine for carrying out the strike.

Calling it a cruel and senseless act, the Russian president said the bridge “has not been used for military transportation for a long time”.

He was speaking after a televised video meeting with national and regional officials to assess the consequences of the attack.

While Kyiv has not claimed any responsibility for the attack, Ukrainian media said the war-hit nation’s security services had deployed maritime drones against the bridge.

The attack killed a Russian couple and injured their 14-year-old daughter. The family was driving over the bridge to go on a holiday in the annexed peninsula.

Ukraine has said Russians have no business holidaying on seized territory, especially while Moscow is bombing the country.

The attack on the bridge, the second in less than 10 months targeting a symbol of Russia’s illegal occupation of Crimea, comes around summer holiday season as Russians drive to or from the peninsula.

The Russian president said his defence ministry is preparing a response to the “terrorist” attack.

He said: “There will be a response from Russia to the terrorist attack on the Crimean bridge.

“The Ministry of Defence is preparing relevant proposals. What happened was another terrorist attack by the Kyiv regime, which had no logic from a military point of view.”

Vehicular traffic in one lane of the Kerch Bridge in Crimea has been restored, Russian deputy prime minister Marat Khusnullin said late last night.

“Motor transport on the Crimean Bridge has been restored in reverse mode on the outer-most right lane,” he wrote on Telegram.

But ferry operations were suspended in the early hours today as Russian news agencies blamed bad weather.

An explosion yesterday knocked out the critical link between Russia and the Crimean peninsula as authorities in Moscow blamed Ukrainian sea drones. Ukraine has neither confirmed nor denied it carried out an attack on the bridge.

The head of the Justice Department’s criminal division is leaving at the end of July after two years of overseeing work that ranged from corporate fraud prosecution to war crimes investigations.

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite’s tenure has included work to combat human smuggling, prosecute white-collar crime and pursue accountability for Russian war crimes in Ukraine, Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

“Under his leadership, the division has accelerated its efforts to keep the American people safe and tackle some of the most complex and urgent challenges our nation faces,” Garland said.

He did not name a reason for Polite’s departure, but the length of his tenure is similar to many of his predecessors. He is expected to join a law firm this summer after a short break, The Wall Street Journal reported.

More mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner military contractor rolled into Belarus Monday, a monitoring group said, continuing their relocation to the ex-Soviet nation following last month’s short-lived mutiny.

Belaruski Hajun, a Belarusian activist group that monitors troops movements in Belarus, said that a convoy of about 20 vehicles carrying Russian flags and Wagner insignia entered the country Monday heading toward a field camp that Belarusian authorities had offered to the company.

The group said it was a third Wagner convoy entering the country since last week.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who brokered a deal that ended last month’s rebellion launched by Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, has said that his country’s military could benefit from the mercenaries’ combat experience.

Months after claiming he could end Russia’s war on Ukraine in 24 hours, former president Donald Trump has finally offered an explanation for why he thinks it’d be so simple for him.

Mr Trump was asked for his specific plan to bring the war to an end in an interview with Fox News host Maria Bartiromo on “Sunday Morning Futures” over the weekend.

His asserted that it would boil down to his established relationships with Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“I know Zelensky very well, I know Putin very well—even better—and I had a very good relationship with both of them,” he said.

He said he would tell Mr Zelensky: “No more, you gotta make a deal,” and Mr Putin: “If you don’t make a deal, we’re gonna give them a lot. We’re gonna give more than they ever got.”

On Tuesday, the long-awaited defence command paper will be published.

It will set out how the UK will invest an additional £2.5 billion in stockpiles and a global response force.

“I don’t think of legacies, I just think it’s the natural step,” said Ben Wallace.

“We started talking about this at the beginning of the year; there was a commitment to the integration of review refresh, which obviously was going to trigger this.

“I was determined that the lessons from Ukraine were brought forward and so that people now know what we need to do and I think that’s important.”

Mr Wallace played a key role in the UK’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Foreign Secretary condemned the Russian leader’s actions, pointing to United Nations (UN) estimates that it could condemn millions more people to hunger.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced that the Black Sea Grain Initiative (BSGI) deal would be halted, adding that Russia will return to the previous arrangements after its demands are met.

Moscow has claimed that restrictions on shipping and insurance have hampered its own exports of food and fertiliser – which it argues are also critical to the global food chain.

National security spokesperson John Kirby said: “I want to start today by addressing Russia’s irresponsible and dangerous decision to suspend his participation in the Black Sea Green Initiative, which will exacerbate food scarcity and harm millions of vulnerable people around the world.

“Russia’s decision to resume its effective blockade of Ukrainian ports and prevent this grain from getting to markets will harm people all over the world. Russia will be fully and solely responsible for the consequences of this military act of aggression.

“We urge the Government of Russia to immediately reverse its decision. Meanwhile, United States has and we will continue to work with other countries to enable both Russian and Ukrainian grain to reach the rest of the world including by ensuring that our sanctions do not target contrary to Russian propaganda.

“They do not target Russian food or fertiliser and we will continue to support Ukraine’s efforts to get that grain to markets that desperately needed even if that’s the other rounds, a lot of work to be done here. This is a deeply regrettable and as I said a dangerous decision that we urge Mr. Putin to reverse.”

Russia has stopped a crucial deal that allowed Ukraine to export millions of tonnes of grain through the Black Sea, hours after an attack on Russia’s bridge to occupied Crimea – which is a major artery for Moscow’s troops fighting in Ukraine.

The decision to end the deal, brokered by the UN and Turkey last year in order to alleviate a food crisis sparked by a Russian blockade of Ukrainian ports, was branded a “cynical move” by President of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. Ukraine is one of the world’s biggest exporters of grain and other foodstuffs and any interruption could drive up food prices across the globe

The head of the UN, Antonio Guterres, said that it “would strike a blow to people in need everywhere”. Both the hundreds of millions facing hunger around the globe and all those who are facing a cost of living crisis. The White House said that not extending the deal past its Monday deadline “will worsen food security and harm millions” with the US ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, describing the move as an “act of cruelty”.