The explosive device was allegedly camouflaged in rolls with construction polyethylene film on 22 pallets and sent from Odessa to the Bulgarian city of Ruse.

Kirill Budanov / photo Kovalchuk Victor UNIAN

The Russian FSB accused the head of Ukrainian intelligence, Kirill Budanov , of organizing the explosions on the Crimean bridge .

This is stated in the press release of the Russian special services.

The explosive device was allegedly camouflaged in rolls with a construction polyethylene film on 22 pallets with a total weight of 22,770 kg and in early August “sent from the seaport of Odessa to the Bulgarian city of Ruse. 

According to the FSB, citizens of Ukraine, Georgia and Armenia were involved in organizing the shipment of cargo from Bulgaria to the Georgian port of Poti, and then supposedly to Armenia.

The cargo was allegedly cleared in Yerevan, after which it was sent to Alaverdi, where it was picked up by a Moscow company. 

The DAF crossed the Upper Lars checkpoint on the Russian-Georgian border and unloaded at the Armavir wholesale base in the Krasnodar Territory.

On October 7, “with the assistance of a Ukrainian and five more identified Russian citizens,” the documents for the cargo were again changed, and the recipient was a non-existent company in the Republic of Crimea.

The special service claims that on the same day the pallets were loaded into the truck of Russian citizen Yusubov Makhir, “who left for Simferopol, and on October 8 at 06:03, an explosion was carried out while traveling along the Crimean bridge.”

The FSB considers the head of intelligence of Ukraine Kirill Budanov to be the organizer of the explosion on the Crimean bridge.

Explosions on the Crimean bridge – what is known

On the morning of October 8, it became known that a  severe fire broke out on the railway line of the Crimean bridge .

Later, the Russian Federation said that  a railway train with fuel caught fire on the Crimean bridge after the truck exploded . Subsequently, it became known that a part of the roadbed of the bridge, on which cars drive, was also destroyed.

Three people were also reported to have  died as a result of the incident .

An UNIAN source in law enforcement agencies said that the  blowing up of the Crimean bridge was a special operation of the SBU . Officially, the Security Service has not yet confirmed this information.

Damage to the Crimean bridge  complicates the supply of food, fuel and weapons  to the temporarily occupied peninsula and southern Ukraine, as well as the transfer of mobilized Russians.

According to the Russian propaganda news agency RIA Novosti, the Crimean bridge, partially destroyed as a result of explosions and fire, has been restored to traffic.

Earlier, the head of the occupying power of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, said that the traffic on the Crimean bridge  would be open to cars and buses with a full inspection procedure .

(C)UNIAN 2022