Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has slammed Kiev's threat to bomb the Crimean Bridge as announcement of a terror attack.
He told reporters on Thursday that “all the necessary security measures and precautions by the relevant service are being taken around the bridge and all strategic facilities”.
“Such a statement [about the potential bombing of the Crimean Bridge] is nothing but an announcement of a possible terrorist act; this is unacceptable”, Peskon emphasised.
The Kremlin spokesman added that “there is, of course, a lot of evidence pertaining to the acts that are subject to legal verification and subsequent punishment”.
Peskov spoke shortly after Alexey Danilov, head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, signalled Kiev’s intent to conduct a strike on the Crimean Bridge. He did not elaborate on whether the Ukrainian armed forces possessed weapons that would enable them to launch such a strike.
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, for his part responded to Danilov’s remarks by saying that “I hope he understands what Russia would target in retaliation”.
Russia's Special Op in Ukraine
That came as Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu stated on Thursday that Mariupol, the second-largest city of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), had been liberated from Ukrainian forces as part of Moscow’s ongoing special military operation in Ukraine.
The operation to demilitarise and de-Nazify Ukraine was announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin on 24 February, following request for help from the DPR and the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) amid intensified shelling by the Ukrainian forces. According to the Russian Defence Ministry, the operation only targets Ukraine’s military infrastructure and civilians are not in danger.