Russia ramped up security on its only bridge to Crimea after a huge blast destroyed sections of it on Saturday.
President Vladimir Putin has now ordered the country’s Federal Security Service (FSB) to oversee the key connector to the occupied peninsula.
The bridge is also a pivotal symbol of Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. The blast killed three people, Russian investigators said.
Officials said work to fix the damaged sections would begin immediately.
Russia’s deputy prime minister ordered the destroyed parts of the bridge to be taken down immediately, and said divers would begin investigating damage below the waterline this Sunday
Hailed by Russian media as “the construction of the century”, the bridge has been crucial to Russia for the movement of military equipment, ammunition and troops into southern Ukraine.
BBC