Large fire reported on key bridge linking Russia to Crimea
Kharkiv (Ukraine) (AP): Russian state-backed media reported on Saturday that a fire broke out on the bridge linking mainland Russia with the Russian-controlled Crimean Peninsula, hours after powerful blasts rocked the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.
RIA-Novosti and the Tass news agency quoted local Russian official Oleg Kryuchkov as saying an object thought to be a fuel storage tank caught fire and that traffic has been stopped on the bridge.
Images shared on social media purported to show fire and damage to the span. The authenticity of the reports and images couldn't be immediately verified.
The crossing is a pair of road and rail bridges that Russia built after it seized and annexed Crimea from Ukraine in violation of international law in 2014.
The fire occurred hours after explosions rocked the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv early on Saturday, sending towering plumes of smoke into the sky and triggering a series of secondary explosions.
Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on Telegram that the early-morning explosions were the result of missile strikes in the center of the city. He said that the blasts sparked fires at one of the city's medical institutions and a nonresidential building. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
The blasts came hours after Russia concentrated attacks in its increasingly troubled invasion of Ukraine on areas it illegally annexed, while the death toll from earlier missile strikes on apartment buildings in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia rose to 14.
On Friday, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to human rights organizations in Russia and Ukraine, and to an activist jailed in Belarus, an ally of Moscow.
Berit Reiss-Andersen, the committee's chair, said the honor went to three outstanding champions of human rights, democracy, and peaceful coexistence", though it was widely seen as a rebuke to Russian President Vladimir Putin and his conduct of Europe's worst armed conflict since World War II.
Putin this week illegally claimed four regions of Ukraine as Russian territory, including the Zaporizhzhia region that is home to Europe's largest nuclear power plant, whose reactors were shut down last month.
Crimean bridge. Ooops. Someone was smoking again in an unauthorized area 🤷♀️ pic.twitter.com/Exmagn6N8r
— Lesia Vasylenko (@lesiavasylenko) October 8, 2022
Aftermath #CrimeaBridge
— Chaudhary Parvez (@ChaudharyParvez) October 8, 2022
First Footage of aftermath of the explosion on #Crimea Bridge.
A strong #fire on the Crimean rail bridge in the city of #Kerch. Russian says is was a fuel tanker, some say it was Ukraine strike.#Crimea #Fire #Russia #Ukraine #RussiaIsLosing #crimeabridge pic.twitter.com/VR6IFUZ5QH
WATCH: #BNNRussia Reports
— Gurbaksh Singh Chahal (@gchahal) October 8, 2022
A truck bomb explosion on Saturday resulted in a portion of the bridge connecting Russia and the Crimean Peninsula catching fire and ultimately collapsing, according to Russian authorities. pic.twitter.com/FbM00kv5wi
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Power tariffs under BESCOM to rise from May 1
Bengaluru (PTI): Power bills for consumers under the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM) will go up from May 1, following an order issued by the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) on Friday.
The hike comes after KERC allowed the BESCOM to recover a revenue deficit of Rs 2,068 crore incurred in 2024-25, from the consumers.
As a result, for every unit of electricity consumed in 2024-25, the customers will be charged an additional 56 paise, it said.
"BESCOM shall calculate, for each of the active consumers of FY2024-25 the amount to be recovered based on their actual energy consumption during FY2024-25. Such amount shall be recovered during FY 2026-27 in equal monthly instalments, to be called as 'FY25 True up Charges', commencing from the first meter reading date falling on or after 1 May 2026 and concluding with the reading date ending on 30 April 2027," the order said.
"It is further ordered that BESCOM shall maintain a separate head of account, allocated for the purpose, to record the adjustment of the said amount to ensure full recovery of the deficit," it added.
Similarly Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation Limited (CESC) has also recorded a revenue deficit of Rs 121.71 crore and can collect an additional 15 paisa per unit for consumption in 2024-25, official sources said.
