Workers restore the railway tracks on the Kerch bridge that links Crimea to Russia, near Kerch, on October 9, 2022, a day after it was damaged by a blast. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images)
Key developments on Oct. 8-9
Putin accuses Ukrainian intelligence of orchestrating explosion at Crimean bridge
At least 14 killed, 89 wounded after latest Russian strike on Zaporizhzhia
Ukraine liberates over 1,170 square km in Kherson Oblast, 40 settlements in Donetsk Oblast
Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine of blowing up the Crimean Bridge, a day after the attack.
Putin said "Ukrainian intelligence" was behind the Oct. 8 explosion that damaged the strategic bridge that connects Russia with the occupied Crimea peninsula.
The overnight explosion left two lanes destroyed, complicating the Russian military's already disrupted supply chains in the south of Ukraine as Kyiv continues to conduct its counteroffensive in the area.
Meanwhile, Ukraine's counteroffensive continued on multiple fronts over the weekend.
Ukrainian forces have thus far recaptured over 1,170 square kilometers of land in the southern Kherson Oblast, southern military command spokeswoman Natalia Humeniuk said on Oct. 9.
Nearly half of it was achieved in October alone.
In the east, the reintegration ministry said on Oct. 8 that Ukrainian forces had liberated 40 settlements in the northern part of Donetsk Oblast.
The eastern counteroffensive now entered Luhansk Oblast, the mostly occupied easternmost region.
On Oct. 9, Governor Serhiy Haidai named seven settlements in Luhansk Oblast liberated from Russian occupation – Novoliubivka, Nevske, Hrekivka, Novoyehorivka, Nadiia, Andriivka and Stelmakhivka.
Facing multiple defeats on the battlefield, Russia intensified attacks on civilian infrastructure, killing at least 12 people in an attack on an apartment building in Zaporizhzhia.
President Volodymyr Zelensky called the Russian attack on civilians "absolute evil," adding that Russians are "savages and terrorists."
The Kremlin publicly accused Ukraine of the attack on the bridge built to connect Russian-occupied Crimea with Russia.
Chairman of Russia’s Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin said that Ukraine was "assisted by Russian citizens and foreigners."
According to Russian authorities, a truck packed with explosives detonated on the bridge near a tanker train which caused a chain reaction.
U.K. intelligence said on Oct. 9 that the transit via the bridge is "seriously degraded," with two of the four roadway lanes collapsing in several places.
The report said that the extent of the damage on the bridge's rail crossing is unclear, but "any serious disruption to its capacity will highly likely have a significant impact on Russia's already strained ability to sustain its forces in southern Ukraine."
Ukraine didn't comment on the alleged involvement in the blast, with the advisor to the President's Office, Mykhailo Podolyak, saying on Oct. 8 that it was potentially a result of an internal conflict in Russia.
Ukrainian officials and the public have largely welcomed the attack on the bridge seen as a pillar of Putin's regime.
U.S. national security spokesman John Kirby declined to comment on the explosion during an interview with ABC News on Oct. 9. Still, he added that Washington would continue to supply arms to Ukraine.
Rescuers use a hose to extinguish a fire in a residential building damaged after a strike in Zaporizhzhia, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Oct. 9, 2022. (Photo by Maryna Moiseyenko/AFP via Getty Images)
Zaporizhzhia attack
Russian forces launched 12 airstrikes on Zaporizhzhia early on Oct. 9, with most rockets hitting apartment buildings and residential houses, according to Governor Oleksandr Starukh.
Zelensky said in his evening address that at least 14 people were killed and the death toll could rise further with the rescue operation still underway. A child was among the killed.
Deputy Head of the President's Office Kyrylo Tymoshenko said that 89 others were wounded, including 11 children.
More than a week after Russia declared its illegal annexation on Sept. 30, it has ramped up attacks on Zaporizhzhia – the only regional capital among the four claimed to be annexed Ukrainian regions that Russia has failed to capture.
The death toll of another Russian attack on Zaporizhzhia three days earlier rose to 20 on Oct. 9, according to Tymoshenko. Sixty-eight others were also wounded, he said.
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba urged the West to speed up deliveries of "more modern air defense systems to save innocent lives."
"Russia continues its missile terror against civilians in Zaporizhzhia," Kuleba said on Twitter hours after the Oct. 9 strikes.
Asami Terajima is a reporter at the Kyiv Independent covering Ukrainian military issues, front-line developments, and politics. She is the co-author of the weekly War Notes newsletter. She previously worked as a business reporter for the Kyiv Post focusing on international trade, infrastructure, investment, and energy. Originally from Japan, Terajima moved to Ukraine during childhood and completed her bachelor’s degree in Business Administration in the U.S. She is the winner of the Thomson Reuters Foundation's Kurt Schork Award in International Journalism 2023 (Local Reporter category) and the George Weidenfeld Prize, awarded as part of Germany's Axel Springer Prize 2023. She was also featured in the Media Development Foundation’s “25 under 25: Young and Bold” 2023 list of emerging media makers in Ukraine.
