Live blog: Putin calls Kerch Bridge attack 'a terrorist act' by Kiev

Sunday, October 9, 2022

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the attack is carried out by Ukrainian special services and Russia's investigative chief immediately opened a criminal terror investigation into the explosion.

What Russian authorities are calling a truck bomb on Saturday hit the huge bridge linking Russia with the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed eight years ago from Ukraine. 

Road and rail traffic on the bridge were temporarily halted, damaging an important supply route for the Kremlin’s forces.

No one has claimed responsibility for damaging the bridge.

Putin to chair meeting

Putin will hold a meeting with his Security Council on Monday, two days after the huge blast that ripped through Russia's Crimea bridge, the Kremlin told local news agencies.

Power line to Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant back again

A power line supplying the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP) in Ukraine that was cut due to shelling on Saturday, forcing the plant to switch to diesel power, has been reconnected, the UN nuclear watchdog's chief has said.

"Our team at #Zaporizhzhya confirms the offsite power line lost yday was restored & #ZNPP is reconnected to the grid - a temporary relief in a still untenable situation," International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi said on Twitter, repeating his call for a protection zone around the plant. 

Russia sees increased Ukrainian fire into its territory 

"Since the start of October, the number of attacks from Ukrainian armed formations on Russia's border territory has considerably increased," said the FSB which is responsible for border security, adding that one person had been killed and five wounded in the past week.

The attacks have concentrated on the Russian region of Belgorod, near the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, as well as Bryansk and Kursk, the FSB said.

US to continue security assistance to Ukraine

The White House has said it would continue to arm Ukraine but declined direct comment on the explosion that damaged Russia's road-and-rail bridge to Crimea.

"We don't really have anything more to add to the reports about the explosion on the bridge," White House national security spokesman John Kirby told ABC's "This Week" program. "What I can tell you is that Mr. Putin started this war, and Mr. Putin could end it today, simply by moving his troops out of the country."

Kirby said both sides needed to find a way to negotiate an end to the conflict but that Putin had shown no interest in doing so.

Dozens killed in Zaporizhzhia city shelling - local official

At least 17 people have been killed in an overnight shelling in Zaporizhzhia, a city in southeast Ukraine, local official Anatoliy Kurtev said.

"As a result of an overnight missile attack on Zaporizhzhia, apartment buildings and roads in a residential area of the city have been damaged," Kurtev, the secretary of the city’s administration, wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

Ukraine armed forces reported dozens killed or wounded in the shelling.

Russian divers to inspect blast-hit Crimea bridge

The divers will examine the damage caused by a powerful blast on Russia's road-and-rail bridge to Crimea that hit a prestigious symbol of Moscow's annexation of the peninsula and a key supply route to forces battling in southern Ukraine.

Russian news agencies quoted Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin as saying the divers would conduct a more detailed survey above the waterline expected to be complete by day's end.

"The situation is manageable - it's unpleasant, but not fatal," Crimea's Russian governor, Sergei Aksyonov, told reporters. "Of course, emotions have been triggered and there is a healthy desire to seek revenge."

Ukraine troops put up a tough fight 

Ukrainian troops are fighting near the strategically important eastern town of Bakhmut, which Russia is trying to take, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said in video address.

Although Ukrainian troops have recaptured thousands of square kilometres of land in recent offensives in the east and south, officials say progress is likely to slow once Kiev's forces meet more determined resistance.

"We are holding our positions in the Donbass, in particular in the Bakhmut direction, where it is very, very difficult now, very tough fighting," said Zelenskyy.

For live updates from Saturday (October 8), click here