Vladimir Putin won't hold any bilateral meetings with Security Council members on Monday

President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin does not intend to hold any bilateral meetings with members of the Security Council on Monday, Press Secretary of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov stated. On the question of whether President Putin could hold bilateral talks with any of the Security Council members on the sidelines of the security council meeting, including Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Peskov told Sputnik "No."  

This comes as the Kremlin leader is scheduled to hold a meeting with permanent members of the Russian Security Council today.  On Sunday, Putin held a meeting with Russian investigative chief Alexander Bastrykin and labelled the explosion on the Crimean Bridge (Kerch Bridge) "a terrorist attack aimed at destroying the critical civilian infrastructure of the Russian Federation,” reported Sputnik. 

Russia blames Ukraine’s Special Services for the bombing  

Russia's National Antiterrorism Committee (NAC) has stated that a truck was blown up on the Kerch Bridge, causing seven fuel tanks of a freight train to catch fire and two car spans of the bridge to collapse partially.  

Moreover, preliminary data from the Russian Investigative Committee revealed that at least three people died as a result of the explosion on the Bridge.  

Additionally, the chairman of Russia’s Investigative Committee Alexander Ivanovich Bastrykin has stated that investigators and officers of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) had identified the suspects involved in the Kerch Bridge bombing. Furthermore, President Putin alleged that Ukrainian special services had authorized and performed the bombing of the Kerch Bridge, stated Sputnik.  

Branding it a “terror state”, Putin claimed the war-embattled Ukraine was behind the attack.   

"There’s no doubt it was a terrorist act directed at the destruction of the critically important civilian infrastructure of the Russian Federation," Putin iterated during a meeting with Alexander Bastrykin. "And the authors, perpetrators, and those who ordered it are the special services of Ukraine," Putin added.  

Ukraine responds to Russian allegations  

According to Bastrykin, the bomb-laden vehicle travelled to Bulgaria, Georgia, Armenia, North Ossetia and Krasnodar, before it could target the designated place.  

“We have already established the route of the truck,” Bastrykin claimed. Responding to the accusations, Mikhail Podolyak, Ukraine's presidential adviser termed Putin's allegations "too cynical". He recalled Russia’s recent shelling wherein the Russian military killed at least 17 people and wounded more than 50 in Zaporizhzhia on Sunday night.   

"Putin accuses Ukraine of terrorism?” Podolyak said. “It has not even been 24 hours since Russian planes fired 12 rockets into a residential area of Zaporizhzhia, killing 13 people and injuring more than 50. No, there is only one state terrorist and the whole world knows who he is," Ukraine's presidential adviser stressed.