Russia-Ukraine updates: Putin suspends key US-Russia nuclear treaty in speech denouncing West

President Vladimir Putin said he'd sought an "open dialogue" with the West.

Almost a year after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine, the two countries are engaged in a struggle for control of areas throughout the east and south.

Putin's forces pulled out of key positions in November, retreating from Kherson as Ukrainian troops led a counteroffensive targeting the southern port city. Russian drones have continued bombarding civilian targets throughout Ukraine, knocking out critical power infrastructure as winter sets in.

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Latest headlines:

Here's how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Oct 08, 2022, 7:28 AM EDT

3 killed in bridge blast, official says

Three people were killed on Saturday in the explosion that collapsed portions of the bridge linking Russia to Crimea, a Russian official said.

The Russian Investigative Committee also said it had identified the driver of the truck that was allegedly blown up on the bridge.

This video grab taken and released on Oct. 8, 2022 by the Russian Investigative Committee shows Svetlana Petrenko, spokeswoman, announcing that a criminal case will be opened after a truck explosion on the Kerch Bridge.
Russian Investigative Committee/AFP via Getty Images

Russia’s response should be tough, said Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs.

"If the Ukrainian trace is confirmed in the state of emergency on the Crimean bridge, the consequences will be inevitable," Slutsky wrote on his Telegram channel on Saturday.

Black smoke billows from a fire on the Kerch Bridge that links Crimea to Russia, after a truck exploded, near Kerch, on Oct. 8, 2022.
AFP via Getty Images

He said he has no doubt that "Kyiv is behind the organization of this attack." Ukrainian officials have not taken credit for the blast. Ukraine’s official government Twitter account tweeted the phrase “sick burn” after the explosion, but did not directly reference the blast.

"This is not just an emergency," Slutsky wrote. "It could be an act of state terrorism."

The railway infrastructure restoration has been started after the fire on the bridge was contained and extinguished, Crimean Railway said.

-ABC News' Somayeh Malekian and Tanya Stukalova

Oct 08, 2022, 6:38 AM EDT

Truck blast caused bridge damage, Russia says

Russian officials said the explosion that damaged the key bridge linking Crimea and Russia came from a truck.

"Today at 6:07 a truck was blown up on the automobile part of the Crimean Bridge from the side of the Taman Peninsula," Russia's National Anti-Terrorism Committee posted online. "It resulted in the ignition of seven fuel tanks of the train, along the direction of the Crimean Peninsula. There was a partial collapse of two automobile spans of the bridge. The arch over the navigable part of the bridge was not damaged."

People watch as a helicopter puts out a fire on the Kerch bridge in the Kerch Strait, Crimea, on Oct. 8, 2022.
Stringer/Reuters

Russian investigators were at the scene, attempting to "establish the circumstances of the explosion," the committee said.

Russian supply lines into Crimea were likely to be disrupted by the blast. Crimean authorities said they would instead get supplies from Russia's newly annexed territories.

-ABC News' Somayeh Malekian and Tanya Stukalova

Oct 08, 2022, 4:45 AM EDT

Bridge 'down' between Russia and Crimea

The bridge between Russia and Crimea was partially destroyed on Saturday, Ukrainian officials said.

Ukraine's Ministry of Defense said the Kerch Bridge had "gone down."

People look out at damaged sections of the Kerch Bridge in the Kerch Strait, Crimea, Oct. 8, 2022.
Stringer/Reuters

"The guided missile cruiser Moskva and the Kerch Bridge -- two notorious symbols of Russian power in Ukrainian Crimea -- have gone now," the ministry said on Twitter, referencing Russia's Moskva vessel, which was destroyed in April. "What's next in line, russkies?"

A view shows a blaze and damaged sections of the Kerch Bridge in the Kerch Strait, Crimea, Oct. 8, 2022.
Stringer/Reuters
A view shows a fire on the Kerch bridge at sunrise in the Kerch Strait, Crimea, Oct. 8, 2022.
Stringer/Reuters

Videos and photos posted by official Ukrainian accounts on social media on Saturday appeared to show the aftermath of an explosion, with plumes of smoke rising above the water.

At least one section of the bridge appeared to have partially fallen into the Kerch Strait, the waterway between the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea.

A railway bridge running alongside the vehicle bridge also appeared to be damaged.

Oct 07, 2022, 4:07 PM EDT

Russian officials say its premature, there is no need to cancel New Year, Christmas festivities to put funds toward war

A source in the Kremlin said Saint Petersburg, Russia, authorities choosing to cancel Christmas and New Year citywide events to funnel the funds toward the war in Ukraine is premature, according to Russian News Agency Interfax.

"We consider it clearly premature and undeveloped," the source said according to Interfax.

The Russian Defense Ministry also said its armed forces have all the necessary equipment for the war in Ukraine, saying there is no need to cancel events in Russian regions to save funds for military personnel, said Colonel-General Viktor Goremykin, Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation.


Earlier on Friday, St. Petersburg officials announced they had decided to cancel the planned festivities and the funds would be used to equip the mobilized. A similar decision was made by the authorities of the Leningrad region.

-ABC News' Natalia Shumskaia

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