LIVE UPDATES: Crimean Bridge Blast Leaves Three People Dead, Preliminary Data Says

On Thursday, the EU announced its eighth package of sanctions against Russia which, among other things, sets a framework for capping the price of Russian oil exports from December at a level coordinated by G7 allies.

"We’ve seen the reports of the explosion at the Kerch Bridge but have nothing further to add on that situation," the Pentagon spokesperson said.

On Saturday, Zelensky seemingly walked back on his controversial statement, saying that it has been misinterpreted and that he meant sanctions, not attacks.

The FSB has been tasked with organizing and coordinating measures to guarantee the safety of transport crossing through the Kerch Strait.

He added that metal had already been ordered to restore the damaged span of the Crimean bridge, builders and designers had been trained, and the restoration time would be clear within a day.

The actions of firefighters on the Crimean bridge made it possible to save the railway from more serious damage, only 9 of 59 carriages burned down, the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations said.

"Transportation of passengers and cargo in the direction of Crimea will be ensured in full," the ministry said.

On Saturday, Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu said that Estonia welcomes an explosion on the Crimean Bridge and assumes that Ukrainian special forces might be behind it.

There people have died in a blast on the Crimean Bridge, according to preliminary data, the Russian Investigative Committee said on Friday.

"According to preliminary data, three people died as a result of the incident. They were presumably passengers of a car, which was near the exploded track. As of now, the bodies of a man and a women have been recovered from the water, their identities are being established." the committee stated.

The Kerch Strait ferry line, which connects the Crimean peninsula and Russia's Krasnodar region, has resumed its operation, with the first ferry already en route for cargo loading, and three others in line to depart, the Russian Transport Ministry told Sputnik on Saturday.

"The transport companies are resuming the operation of the Kerch Strait ferry line. The coastal infrastructure is ready for these purposes. As of 8:30 a.m. local time [05:30 GMT], the first ferry departed to the terminal for loading, and three more ferries of different shipowners are preparing to depart to the crossing," the ministry said.

The fire on the freight train on the Crimean bridge was extinguished, Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations told Sputnik on Saturday.

"The fire on a freight train with diesel fuel on the Crimean bridge has been extinguished, at the moment there is no open burning," a ministry official said.

Some 250 people and 70 pieces of equipment were involved in putting out the fire, he added.

Ukrainian Presidential Adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on Saturday that the incident on the Crimean Bridge, where a truck explosion caused seven fuel tanks of a freight train to catch fire and a partial collapse of two car spans, was "the beginning."

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

There are no forecasts concerning the restoration of the Crimean Bridge, which presumably has been damaged by the Ukrainian forces, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Sputnik on Saturday.

"No. There are no forecasts yet," Peskov said.

Russia's National Antiterrorism Committee (NAC) said on Saturday that a truck was blown up on the Crimean Bridge, which caused an inflammation of seven fuel tanks of a railway train and a partial collapse of two car spans.

No injuries have been reported yet, according to the regional authorities.

All trains to Crimea, which were scheduled to depart in near future, will be temporarily suspended due to the incident on the Crimean Bridge, the state-owned transport company Russian Railways said on Saturday.

"Train movement is temporarily suspended due to the incident at the Vyshestebliyevskaya ramp (the bridge) – Kerch-Yuzhnaya Novy Park station … The sale of train tickets to Crimea is temporarily halted," the transport operator said on Telegram.

Earlier in the day, Russia's National Antiterrorism Committee (NAC) said that a truck was blown up on the Crimean Bridge, which caused seven fuel tanks of a freight train to catch fire and a partial collapse of two car spans.