Ukraine Crisis: Bridges Destroyed Outside Donetsk

Three bridges have been destroyed on roads leading into the city of Donetsk on Monday ahead of an expected offensive from government forces.

It was unclear who was behind the explosions but Ukrainian media said the bridges were blown up by rebels as Ukraine’s military advanced.

Ukrainian troops regained control of the key rebel strongholds of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk on Saturday.

A journalist, Yevgeny Shibalov, in Donetsk says civilians in the city are preparing for fighting.

He said that said: “For the moment there are no gunfights but people are really scared. A lot of shops are closed and some banks officially declared they are closing their branches in the city”.

Separatist fighters driven out of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk at the weekend have regrouped in Donetsk.

A railway line in the village of Novobakhmutivka that crosses over a main road out of Donetsk was targeted, leaving a large cargo train dangling across the void.

A witness told the AP news agency that he saw a group of camouflaged men get into their cars and head towards Donetsk shortly before the bridge collapsed after an explosion.

Two other bridges on roads leading from Sloviansk to Donetsk were also destroyed in the villages of Zakitne and Seleznevka, Ukraine’s transportation authority said on Monday.

Ukraine’s 5 Channel TV said militants had carried out the attacks, quoting state railways as saying repairing the bridges could take a month and a half.

Mykhaylo Koval, a senior Ukrainian security official, said government troops were preparing to continue the operation against the separatists.

“There is a clear strategic plan, which has been approved. The plan is focused on two major regional centres: Luhansk and Donetsk. These cities will be completely blockaded,” Mr Koval said.

“These measures will result in the separatists – let us call them bandits – being forced to lay down arms.”

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s richest man, coal and steel magnate Rinat Akhmetov, pleaded with the government on Monday not to bomb his home city of Donetsk and the wider Donbass region.

Mr Akhmetov, whose fortune is estimated at more than $11bn (£6.5bn), said government forces should show restraint in their operations in the east of Ukraine.