According to Russia’s RIA state news agency, a fuel tank was on fire on one of the sections of the bridge.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s media reported a massive explosion.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on Twitter: "Crimea, the bridge, the beginning. Everything illegal must be destroyed, everything stolen must be returned to Ukraine, everything occupied by Russia must be expelled."
The Ukrainian defence ministry tweeted: "The guided missile cruiser Moskva and the Kerch Bridge – two notorious symbols of russian power in Ukrainian Crimea – have gone down. What’s next in line, russkies?"
Traffic on the bridge was suspended, the Reuters news agency reported.
Ukrainian media outlets said a blast took place on the bridge at around 6 a.m. local time.
State news agency Ukrinform reported that a section of the road had been destroyed.
The strategic bridge over the Kerch Strait is an important supply route for Russian forces in Crimea and in southern Russian-occupied Ukraine, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Russia annexed the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine in 2014, and the 19-kilometre road-and-rail bridge was opened with great fanfare by President Vladimir Putin four years later, according to Reuters.
Moscow on February 24 launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine by land, air and sea, the biggest attack by one state against another in Europe since World War II.
Saturday is day 227 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
(gs)
Source: IAR, PAP, Reuters, ukrinform.net
