Five Russians Detained Over Crimea Bridge Attack

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) claimed on Wednesday morning that the attack on the strategically vital Kerch Strait Bridge had been planned by Ukrainian military intelligence for months.

The Kremlin's principal security agency said it was organized by Ukraine's Intelligence Directorate and that five Russians had been detained. Three citizens of Ukraine and Armenia have also been detained but it is not clear how many of the three are Ukrainian and how many are Armenian.

The FSB also published photos of those it accused of being involved in the organization of the October 8 attack on the bridge that links Russia to annexed Crimea.

"It has been established that the organizer of the terrorist attack on the Crimean bridge was the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, its head Kirill [Kyrylo] Budanov, employees and agents," the FSB said.

The FSB claimed the explosive device used in the attack was hidden in rolls of construction grade polyethylene plastic sheeting/film and was shipped from the seaport of Odesa to the city of Ruse in Bulgaria in early August.

Ukrainian authorities have not claimed responsibility for the incident.

It comes after days of Russian missile strikes across Ukraine, including in the capital Kyiv, which caused multiple civilian casualties. The Kremlin vowed to take revenge in response to the blast on the only bridge connecting the annexed Crimean Peninsula with Russia.

The explosion over the Kerch Strait damaged a key supply route for Russia's forces amid the Kremlin's flagging war effort in Ukraine.

According to the FSB, "cargo" crossed the Russian-Georgian border at the Upper Lars checkpoint, and on October 6, it was delivered and unloaded in Armavir, a town in Armenia.

The following day, two Ukrainian citizens and five Russian citizens changed the cargo's documents, making its recipient a non-existent company in the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

"On the same day, the pallets were loaded into a truck of Russian citizen Yusubov Makhir, born in 1971, who left for Simferopol, and on October 8, 2022 at 06.03, an explosion was carried out while following the Crimean bridge," the FSB said.

It accused an employee of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of controlling the cargo's movements.

"At the moment, five citizens of Russia, three citizens of Ukraine and Armenia, who participated in the preparation of the crime, have been detained as part of a criminal case," the FSB said in a statement.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, called the bridge explosion "the beginning" but didn't allude to who was behind the attack.

"Crimea, the bridge, the beginning," Podolyak tweeted. "Everything illegal must be destroyed, everything stolen must be returned to Ukraine, everything occupied by Russia must be expelled."

Podolyak later released a statement suggesting that Russians could be behind the blast.

"It is worth noting that the truck that detonated, according to all indications, entered the bridge from the Russian side. So the answers should be sought in Russia," he said.

Newsweek has contacted the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministries for comment.