CNN
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Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold an operational meeting of his Security Council on Monday, just two days after a massive explosion on a key strategic bridge linking Crimea and Russia.
The meeting itself isn’t out of the ordinary – Putin regularly holds operational meetings with the Security Council, usually on a weekly basis, according to TASS. However, it comes just days after a major humiliation for the Russian President, when an explosion severely damaged parts of the road and rail bridge between annexed Crimea and the Russian Federation early Saturday.
And while the agenda has not been made public, the meeting comes at a strategic crossroads for the Kremlin, which must make a series of unenviable choices after Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine has faltered after a month of military setbacks.
Some road traffic and train traffic has resumed on the estimated $3.7 billion bridge. On Saturday, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin said repair works on the bridge would be carried out around the clock, with a damage survey to be completed within a day and divers scheduled to check all the supports of the bridge.
The first passenger services resumed travel across the bridge on Saturday, traveling from the Crimean Peninsula to Krasnodar Krai in southern Russia, Russia’s Ministry of Transport said in a statement.
Car traffic on the bridge has also restarted in two lanes, Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Marat Khusnullin said on Sunday. “Traffic has already been launched along two lanes on the Crimean bridge,” he wrote in a Telegram post, adding that earlier, one lane was being used for cars traveling in alternate directions, slowing down traffic. Heavy trucks, vans and buses have been traveling by ferry since the blast.
Ukrainian military continues to advance into several of the areas Russia now claims as its own.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/
strike on a convoy of civilian cars that killed at least 30 people near Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on September 30.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/
results of a referendum on the joining of the DPR to Russia, in Donetsk, Ukraine, on September 27.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/
referendum poster reading “Yes” in Berdyansk, Ukraine, on September 26. Russia is attempting to annex up to 18% of Ukrainian territory, with President Vladimir Putin expected to host a ceremony in the Kremlin to declare four occupied Ukrainian territories part of Russia.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/
mass grave in a forest on the outskirts of Izyum, eastern Ukraine on September 18. Ukrainian authorities discovered hundreds of graves outside the formerly Russian-occupied city.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/
inspect the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on September 1.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/
six month anniversary of the Russian invasion, on August 24. ” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/…
