oh, because no one should have the flu make up your mind. w. made for mines. mm hm. ah ah . this is dw news live from berlin. russia bridge to crimea has partially collapsed after a massive explosion. moscow authorities say and explosion has severed a vital link between its mainland and the peninsula. it's these from ukraine in 2014, an advisor to the ukranian president, calls at the beginning,

but stopped short of claiming responsibility. meanwhile, ukraine continues to push back russian forces bond departing troops leave behind another group, reminder of their occupation ukrainians discover hundreds of bodies in the eastern town of lima and canada bars. leaders of iran, revolutionary guard and ramp up sanction. the government says the measures will raise pressure on to ron over its cracked down mass protest after the death of a woman in police custody. ah. a marion evans dean. it's good to have you with us. we begin with breaking news. the bridge connecting crimea to russia has been hit by a large explosion. ukrainian media reported a blast early in the morning. local time. russian authorities say they're

investigating a truck bomb. the blast is proportionately shown here in an unverified social media video on the roadway span of the bridge igniting several fuel tanks on the railroad span. russian president vladimir putin opened the bridge and 2018 after russia illegally annexed the ukrainian peninsula. further, on verified videos also appear to show that a section of the bridge has collapsed due to the exclusion did of the corresponding mathias bellinger is in ukraine city. of nikolai, of an earlier, he told us more about the explosion on the crimean bridge. parts of the road bridge have collapsed and there is a road bridge and railway bridge next to each other. and the railway bridge is in flames because it seems that a fuel a fuel train has been hit. and now these, this fuel is burning. the damage is extensive, the bridge is out of use. now the russian occupational authorities have said that

they are going to introduce a ferry service at this point. crimea is, is basically cut off from the russian mainland via this route. there is, of course, still the so called land bridge, the territories that russia has conquered in the past few months that connected to russia. but this is a quite a severe damage and the consequences will probably be felt throughout this war or mathias. explain it to our viewer is the significance of this bridge, just how important is it for russia, both strategically and also politically when russia and next crimea, they had no connection to this island, the territory that what crimea is

a peninsula and the territory that's on the other side or that it's linked to, is ukrainian and was controlled by ukraine at the time of this bridge was the main supply route to crimea. it's also been the main supply route for military equipment in this more that military equipment that was going to the southern front. russia has conquered the patch of land along the is off c. that is also connecting right now, crimea, to the russian for russia. but this is much more, it's much more difficult to bring in equipment via there. so this strike and ukraine has said for a long time that the bridge which it considers an illegal cons in eagle construction, is a target for ukraine. and this will have significant this will have significant

impact on the supply lines on the russian supply lines. of course, the russians should have expected that and might have taken some precautions like stock piling, munitions, for example, in crimea, but it will make it much more difficult for them to supply their troops in the south. we have an offensive in the south going on a counter offensive by ukraine, which is taking back territories. and this will make it much more difficult for russia to bring in new supplies. and it might weaken the russian troops, the occupational troops considerably. there was dw correspondent making a thing at reporting fan ukraine. well, d, w is no longer able to report from inside russia because the authorities there withdraw our accreditation. so our correspondence killian buyer is covering the russian reaction to the incident in crimea from rook law in lithuanian came in good

to see you. so what are you hearing from russian authorities? well, russia's national anti terrorist committee has come to come out and actually indeed stated that this explosion was caused by a truck that detonated a knocking down a part of the bridge and setting em at the passing railway train on fire, which was carrying fuel. and they were quick to emphasize and also the russian media is emphasizing this, that the bridge is not as heavily damage that the structurally important parts are . the actual pillars carrying the bit ridge are still attacked. and the head of the crimean parliament, or vladimir constantine off, was quick to point the blame at ukraine, saying that they have a quote put their bloody hands on crimea, and that they are trying to destroy everything that russia has built. the russian

president vladimir putin, according to the spokesman of the kremlin dmitri pest cove is being briefed by his prime minister and respect of ministers, and has launched a committee which will hold an investigation and look into what is actually what has actually happened on the bridge now killian, what about the residents of crimea? what does this attack mean for them? and in particular, for those of the population who are pro russian well, i would say people are probably worried. now we need to remember that crimea, for the longest part really wasn't much a play in the war. and, you know, even saw russia, tourists going there in the summer going on holidays. and then it started to pick up her when ukrainian strikes on russian air fields were seen. and am rumors of drone attacks and or, and special forces operations. maybe they are m. so,

you know, tension started to pick up and we saw that people were leaving crimea, and there were traffic jams on this bridge. the bridge is now destroyed with it. and basically, the umbilical cord between crimea and russia has been severed. you know, this bridge was effect of not just strategic importance, but symbolic importance to the kremlin. it represented the homecoming of crimea. and now the only way, really, for people to return, if the bridge really stays down, is through the newly legally annexed territories. that russia has just taken from ukraine lives now can be in a rush as neighbors are, of course, keenly following developments in the war in ukraine, including in lithuania, which is where you are right now. we understand that in germany's defense minister, christina lam faced is in the 20 to day to inaugurate and new headquarters of german combat and german combat brigade. what is the significance of this and how

exactly is this going to work in practical terms? well, you know, this symbolizes a shift in german defense policy. and it, it's supposed to send a signal to the baltic states, especially lithuania, saying we hear you, we are here. we are here to stay and we will do our part to defend you behind me, right? now you can see the military base where lithuanian and the troops are based and also a, a german lead nato. at combat battle group. it's here and these are about 1600 soldiers lead. the majority of them are german. on top of this, berlin is m. allocating $2500.00 additional soldiers to lithuania, the sad combat brigade. but there's a catch. only the headquarters will actually be stationed here permanently. and the majority of the job troops will remain in germany on high readiness. and b rotate

is in here for exercises with their lithuanian counterparts. so, and this is the situation right now here, lavished will probably be coming in the next hour or 2. and we will keep you posted did have a canadian by reporting from brooklyn in the flaming kilian. thanks a lot. oh, earlier i spoke to mike martin, he is a war studies fellow at king's college in london. and i asked him, who he believed was behind the explosion on the bridge in crimea. will, isn't it almost certainly an attack by the ukrainian armed forces? ah, it's it, the bridge is out of the artillery range of the, of the missile systems that ukraine has. so it's not that, and so that leaves us some sorts of special forces or sabotage raid. there are only really 2 options for that. one is the truck bomb that the russians seem to be

talking about. the other is, is something on a boat to do that much damage. you need to move significant amounts of explosive into position. so those are your 2 options, really, but it was absolutely done by the cranium forces. and why do you think an attack like this was not stopped by russian air defenses or some other method of pro probe preventing an attack of this scale and that very significant bridge. but you could, you could ask the same question about any number of ukrainian attacks recently what we've seen over the last 34 months is that the ukrainians have consistently out thought the russians and they've out fought them as well. and so i think most people expected the current bridge to come under attack. ah, but perhaps later on in the war hops when the ukrainians have made more advance in

the south or perhaps re taking some territory in dumbass. but actually what the credit is to be very good at is keeping everybody guessing. and so they've clearly decided that there's both symbolic and logistical advantage to dropping the bridge now. and so they've dropped it. the russian simply wants expecting it. then tell us a bit more about this strategic significance and also the symbolic significance. i mean, how much of a detriment is it going to be to russia's military effort, having this bridge damaged and what is it due to russian morale, great question. i'm so the russian military relies on railways for a lot of supplies and various historical reasons for that. but it's, it's very important fact. now, if we look at the russians in crimea, and in her song which we've had a lot about recently, there are only 2 rail links that moved from russia into that area. and one is on the coast bridge that we've just seen destroyed. and the other one runs just north

of meet all which is that city i'm in the saw on in the south, on the, on the coast of the black sea. and about 2 days ago the cranium started attacking the front lines are only about such clumps as white sauce. the 2nd with artillery, the russian railway lines there in a place called talk mac, now they've dropped the bridge. so the ukrainians, clearly isolating the russian forces from their supplies in terms of symbolism. i did the digests of russian t v tonight. they're going to be absolutely fascinating. this bridge has putin's name all over it. it's the symbolism of his project. and this comes at a time where there's already been lots of factions, maneuvering in moscow, blaming the military, blaming the vault group, blaming putin. the blame game started and such a symbolic attack by the ukrainians is only going to accelerate that. now you mentioned how important this bridge is for vladimir putin personally. and

i know he is threatened in the past that if the bridge would be targeted by ukrainian forces, then key of would then be the a direct target in retaliation. so are we likely to see a direct attack on kids now by russian forces? but keith has been, it's all good throughout the war. it was on the direct ground. so for the 1st 6 weeks of the war and has been on the intermittent air in missile attack, since then over the last month, we'll say we've seen the instruction of russian suicide drones in cities like odessa. i don't see how it's acting. this bridge is going to change the russian attacks on places like keys and anyway, the way we should view attacks on civilians on cities is of russian impotence. in military terms, attacking civilians is

a illegal and b doesn't help you new military effort. you should be attacking your opponents military forces. so i don't think this is gonna have a great effect on, on what we're gonna do. it's, it's another empty threat from putin that was mike martin, worse that his fellow at king's college in london. mike, thank you so much for all of your insights. thank you. well meanwhile, ukrainian authorities say they found $200.00 individual graves and a mass grave in the eastern city of lemon. the military governor of that, in that region, has published photos of the graves on his telegram channel. the governor says exhumations have already begun. according to police, the exact number of bodies in the mass grave is still to be determined. officials have not yet confirmed if the dead are civilians or ukrainian soldiers. russian troops retreated from the area last weekend.