Russia-Ukraine war latest updates – The Washington Post

Putin’s bridge of dreams explodes in flames: In 2018, when Putin crossed the Crimean Bridge — a 12-mile span of steel and concrete connecting the peninsula he seized from Ukraine to mainland Russia — it was framed as a patriotic victory. During the reign of the czars, “people dreamed of building this bridge,” Putin boasted as he took the wheel of an orange dump truck adorned with Russian flags leading a convoy across the bridge.

Now, a section of that bridge — one of Europe’s longest — has been damaged in an explosion, with parts seen sinking into the water, in a symbolic and strategic blow to Russia.

Ukraine, while not taking credit publicly for the blast, had openly promised to attack the bridge as recently as June, calling it a “number one” target because of its strategic importance, The Post’s Maite Fernández Simon and Paul Sonne report. The bridge is an important artery for Moscow’s war effort, carrying troops and weapons from mainland Russia to Crimea.