Russian tourists flee Crimea after attack on landmark bridge

A view through a train window shows the section of a road split and sloping to one side following an alleged attack on the Crimea Bridge, that connects the Russian mainland with the Crimean peninsula across the Kerch Strait, in this still image from video taken July 17, 2023. REUTERS/Stringer

MOSCOW (Reuters) - In the run-up to Monday's attack on Russia's road and rail bridge to Crimea, state TV broadcast footage of long traffic jams in southern Russia as tourists waited in their cars for hours to cross over to start their summer holidays.

After explosions tore through the road bridge, killing a couple who had planned to holiday in Crimea and wounding their daughter, it broadcast traffic jams going in a different direction as tourists tried to drive home through Russian-controlled southern Ukraine, territory that Kyiv is fighting to take back.