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world news Dialuna 10 OctOber 2022

Blast on bridge to Crimea hurts Russian supply lines, pride

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — An The 19-kilometer (12-mile) adding that the man’s home
explosion Saturday caused Kerch Bridge, on a strait be- was searched and experts
the partial collapse of a tween the Black Sea and the were looking at the truck’s
bridge linking the Crime- Sea of Azov, is a symbol of route.
an Peninsula with Rus- Moscow’s claims on Crimea
sia, damaging an impor- and an essential link to the Train and automobile traffic
tant supply artery for the peninsula, which Russia an- over the bridge was tempo-
Kremlin’s faltering war nexed from Ukraine in 2014. rarily suspended. Automo-
effort in southern Ukraine The $3.6 billion bridge, the bile traffic resumed Saturday
and hitting a towering longest in Europe, is vital afternoon on one of the two
symbol of Russian power to sustaining Russia’s mili- links that remained intact,
in the region. tary operations in southern with the flow alternating in
Ukraine. Putin himself pre- each direction, said Crimea’s
Nobody immediately sided over the bridge’s open- Russia-backed leader, Sergey
claimed responsibility for ing in 2018. Aksyonov.
the blast, which killed three
people. The speaker of the authorities said was caused Putin signed a decree late Sat- The attack on it “will have Rail traffic was resuming
Russian-backed regional par- by a truck bomb, risked a urday tightening security for a further sapping effort slowly. Two passenger trains
liament in Crimea accused sharp escalation in Russia’s the bridge and for energy in- on Russian morale, (and) left the Crimean cities of
Ukraine, but Moscow didn’t eight-month war, with some frastructure between Crimea will give an extra boost to Sevastopol and Simferopol
apportion blame. Ukrai- Russian lawmakers calling and Russia, and put Russia’s Ukraine’s,” said James Nixey and headed toward the bridge
nian officials have repeat- for President Vladimir Putin federal security service, the of Chatham House, a think Saturday evening. Passenger
edly threatened to strike the to declare a “counterterror- FSB, in charge of the effort. tank in London. “Conceiv- ferry links between Crimea
bridge, and some lauded the ism operation,” shedding the ably the Russians can rebuild and the Russian mainland
destruction on Saturday. But term “special military opera- Hours after the explosion, it, but they can’t defend it were being relaunched Sun-
Kyiv stopped short of claim- tion” that had downplayed Russia’s Defense Ministry while losing a war.” day.
ing responsibility. the scope of fighting to ordi- announced that the air force
nary Russians. chief, Gen. Sergei Surovi- Ukrainian President Volody- While Russia seized areas
The explosion, which Russian kin, would now command all myr Zelenskyy, in a video north of Crimea early in its
Russian troops in Ukraine. address, indirectly acknowl- invasion of Ukraine and built
Surovikin, who this summer edged the bridge attack but a land corridor to it along the
was placed in charge of troops did not address its cause. Sea of Azov, Ukraine is press-
in southern Ukraine, had led ing a counteroffensive to re-
Russian forces in Syria and All vehicles crossing the claim that territory.
was accused of overseeing a bridge are supposed to un-
bombardment that destroyed dergo state-of-the-art checks The Russian Defense Minis-
much of Aleppo. for explosives. The truck that try said its troops in the south
exploded was owned by a res- were receiving necessary
Moscow, however, continues ident of the Krasnodar region supplies through that corri-
to suffer battlefield losses. in southern Russia, the In- dor and by sea.
vestigative Committee said,

Death toll rises to 10 in blast at gas station in Ireland

LONDON (AP) — The the site on Saturday. its prominent position on the
death toll from a gas sta- area’s main N56 road, and
tion explosion that shat- The explosion leveled the gas was “the heart” of the local
tered a small village in station building, which holds community.
northwest Ireland rose the main shop and post office
to 10 on Saturday, and for the village, damaged an “People are shocked and
emergency workers who adjacent apartment building numbed,” he told Irish
combed through piles of and shattered the windows in broadcaster RTE. “People
rubble said they did not nearby cottages. have been rallying together
expect to find more bod- and everyone’s concern is
ies. “There were blocks thrown a with the families of those
hundred yards away from the who have lost their loved
Irish police said no one re- scene,” local medic Dr. Paul ones and how they can sup-
mained missing after Friday’s Stewart told Irish broadcaster port them.”
explosion in Creeslough, RTE. “The whole front of
County Donegal. Police are the building collapsed… and Another local lawmaker,
investigating the cause of the the roof of the first floor col- Pearse Doherty, said people
blast, and Superintendent lapsed down into the shop. in the community were in
David Kelly said evidence “is It’s a miracle they got anyone shock.
pointing toward a tragic acci- out.”
dent.” “(It’s) something nobody
Irish Prime Minister Micheál ever thought could happen in
Ireland’s police force, An Martin said it was one of the a little village like this where
Garda Siochana, said the “darkest of days for Donegal everyone knows each other,”
midafternoon explosion and the entire country.” he said. “A quarter past three
killed four men, three wom- yesterday, kids were coming
en, two teenagers and a girl the community of about 400 Northern Ireland joined in Agriculture Minister Char- out of school, people were
of primary school age. Eight people near Ireland’s rugged what police said Saturday was lie McConalogue, who rep- going to collect their welfare
people were hospitalized — Atlantic coast. “search and recovery” opera- resents Donegal in Ireland’s payments. For such a night-
one in critical condition — tion. Sniffer dogs combed the parliament, said the ser- mare to occur, that will take
after the blast destroyed the Emergency responders from debris, and a mechanical dig- vice station was well known some time to sink in.”
Applegreen service station in Ireland and neighboring ger lifted piles of rubble from across the country because of