An explosion on Saturday, October 8, damaged the only bridge connecting Russia with annexed Crimea.
Eight people have been detained over the blast, which marks a critical juncture in Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. Russia's Federal Security Service claimed that the main intelligence department of the Ukraine's Ministry of Defense, its head, employees and agents organized the "terrorist attack" on the Kerch Strait road-and-rail bridge, Russian state media RIA Novosti reported Wednesday. As of Thursday afternoon, Ukraine had yet to publicly comment on the new claims.
The bridge is strategically important because it links Russia's Krasnador region with the Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014 in a move roundly criticized by the international community.
The blast sparked a feverish response from the Kremlin, which used the explosion to justify a wave of brutal airstrikes across Ukraine in scenes that echoed the early days of the invasion.
Here are some of the stories that made headlines over the past week, as well as some photos that caught our eye.
