Traffic on the Crimean bridge was stopped due to an "emergency" on the night of July 17

The so-called head of the temporarily occupied Qırım, Aksyonov, announced an "emergency incident that occurred in the area of the 145th pillar."

He wrote about it on his social media.

Aksyonov called on the peninsula's residents to refrain from travelling across the bridge for security reasons.

The Russian Ministry of Transport reported allegedly damaged roadways on the spans of the Crimean bridge.

Belgorod Governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said that a man and a woman were allegedly killed, and their daughter was injured in the incident on the Crimean bridge.

The Defence Intelligence of Ukraine refused to comment on the causes of the events on the Crimean bridge. DIU spokesman Andrii Yusov said that he "can quote the words of the head of the DIU, Kyrylo Budanov, that 'the Crimean bridge is a useless structure.'"

Later it became known that the railway connection had allegedly been restored on the bridge.

The head Joint Coordination Press Centre of the Southern Defense Forces, Natalia Humeniuk, said that the damage to the Crimean bridge could be a provocation by Russia. On July 17, the "grain deal" expires without having been extended.

The Ukrainian authorities have not officially commented on the events.