For Vladimir Putin, bad news chases the other on the Ukrainian front.

While the Russian army continues to lose ground against the advance of troops from kyiv, the attack on the Crimean bridge on Saturday October 8 concluded a series of failures for the Russian president.

CCTV footage shared on social media showed a powerful explosion as several vehicles drove across the bridge, including a truck that Russian authorities suspect was the source of the blast.

Additional footage of the Crimean bridge explosion and some of the aftermath.

pic.twitter.com/yehNKURdsN

— Julia Davis (@JuliaDavisNews) October 8, 2022

For the Kremlin, which a few months ago boasted of the security surrounding the building, the humiliation is total.

The Kerch Bridge that connects Crimea to Russia is a vital supply line for Russian forces to hold the occupied territories in southern Ukraine as the battle for the city of Kherson looms.

Beyond its strategic value, the largest bridge in Europe (19 km) built in just 3 years is a symbol in the eyes of the Russians of the annexation of the peninsula and its attachment to Russia.

A triumphant Vladimir Putin had inaugurated it in jeans and a black jacket, driving a truck, on May 16, 2018. 

For its part, kyiv did not claim responsibility for the attack.

This does not prevent its leaders from jubilant.

“Unfortunately, it was cloudy in Crimea,” quipped Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

As for the head of the Ukrainian Security Council, Oleksi Danilov, he published on twitter a video of the fire accompanied by the famous “Happy Birthday Mister President” sung by Marilyn Monroe.

The day before, Vladimir Putin celebrated his 70th birthday.

Доброго ранку, Україно!

🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/UQMI6LheSR

— Oleksiy Danilov (@OleksiyDanilov) October 8, 2022

Exasperated Russian elites

The attack on this key infrastructure comes as the Russian army accumulates bitter setbacks on the ground.

After recapturing the town of Lyman in the east, a galvanized Ukrainian army has again had a string of successes this week.

According to kyiv, its troops have retaken more than 400 km2 from the Russians in recent days in the south.

Some videos on social media show Russian soldiers surrendering without a fight like this tank crew.

The Russian Occupiers in the Kherson direction began to surrender together with military equipment



Part one 1/1 pic.twitter.com/FHNPaLMFvm

— Igor Kyivskyi (@Igor_from_Kyiv_) October 5, 2022

In Moscow, elite criticism of the conduct of the war is growing louder.

They do not target Vladimir Putin directly as is customary in Russia, but his advisers and the Ministry of Defence.

The general staff of the army is particularly targeted for the weakness of the equipment and the supervision of the mobilized soldiers.

Even the most ardent propagandists worry about the dilapidated state of certain Russian units.

“I am tired of receiving messages saying that the mobilized must buy their equipment with their money. Why should a mobilized man, a hero, have to buy what he needs?”, recently carried away the famous TV presenter and propagandist Vladimir Sololyov.

>> To read: In Russia, poor and ethnic minorities pay the high price of the war in Ukraine

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov castigated the military command, while a senior parliamentary official, Andrei Kartapolov, called on Telegram the army to "stop lying" about its defeats.

What retaliation measures?

A sign of discontent in high places, Moscow announced on Saturday that it had appointed a new man at the head of its "special military operation" in Ukraine, General Sergei Surovikin, 55.

A veteran of the civil war in Tajikistan in the 1990s, the second war in Chechnya in the 2000s and the Russian intervention in Syria launched in 2015, Sergei Surovikin had until then led the “South” group of forces in Ukraine, according to a Russian ministry report from July.

According to RFI, Serguei Surovikin is nicknamed “Armageddon, for his tendency to use missiles against civilian infrastructure”.

Should this be seen as an indication of the nature of the retaliatory measures envisaged by Moscow?

Russia, which does not directly accuse kyiv of the attack on the Crimean bridge while evoking the "terrorist nature of Ukraine", casts doubt on the response it intends to give to this affront.

For the moment, the Russian authorities are trying to minimize the damage suffered by the Kerch bridge and ensure that rail and road traffic has been able to resume.

"All the scheduled trains will pass in full," said Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khousnulline, according to the Ria Novosti agency, Sunday /

Crimean authorities had announced on Saturday that traffic had also resumed for cars and buses on the bridge's only road lane that remained intact.

Ferries have also taken over to make the crossing, especially for heavy goods vehicles.

With AFP

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