Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said on October 12 that it had arrested five Russian nationals and three citizens of Ukraine and Armenia over the explosion that damaged the Crimea Bridge on October 8.
The FSB said in a statement that the attack was organized by the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, and its director Kyrylo Budanov.
On October 12, a senior Ukrainian official dismissed Russia's investigation as "nonsense."
"The whole activity of the FSB and Investigative Committee is nonsense," Ukraine's public broadcaster Suspilne cited Interior Ministry spokesman Andriy Yusov as saying.
Yusov described the FSB and Investigative Committee as "fake structures that serve the Putin regime, so we will definitely not comment on their next statements."
The explosion on the 18-kilometer-long Crimean Bridge targeted one section of the road bridge, temporarily halting truck and car traffic.
It also blew up several fuel tankers on a train heading from southern Russia toward the Moscow-annexed Crimean peninsula.
The Crimean Bridge was completed in May 2018 and built at a cost of some $4 billion. It was a significant prestige project intended to bolster Moscow’s claims on Crimea that was inaugurated by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The bridge had become logistically vital to Russia's military campaign in Ukraine, with supplies to Russian troops fighting in south Ukraine channeled through it.
Russian forces launched mass missile strikes against Ukrainian cities, including power supplies, which Putin said were a retaliation for the Crimean bridge blast that he said had been organized by Ukraine's secret services.
