Russia sentences 8 for Crimea bridge blast – DW – 11/27/2025

A Russian court has sentenced eight people to life in prison for a bomb attack that damaged a bridge linking Russian-occupied Crimea to the Russian mainland.

“The defendants were found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment,” Russia’s Southern Military Court in the city of Rostov-on-Don said on Telegram.

On October 8, 2022, a truck exploded on the bridge, setting seven tanks of the freight train on fire. Five people died in the explosion.

Crimea was annexed in 2014 and illegally annexed by Russia four years later. The peninsula was used as a launchpad for Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Ukraine’s secret service claimed responsibility for the attack, which temporarily shut down the main lifeline to the illegally occupied peninsula.

Ukraine has targeted the key bridge in several attacks over the past few years.

Belgian securities depository Euroclear has said an EU plan to access frozen Russian assets could spook markets and raise borrowing costs. financial Times Informed.

About €185 billion ($215 billion) of Russian assets are held in depositories, with another €25 billion held in other EU countries, mostly in France and Luxembourg.

European Parliament President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday the EU plans to introduce a legal text that could pave the way for frozen assets to be used as loans to finance Ukraine. Such a plan had been discussed since the beginning of the war, but Belgium had blocked it out of fear of Russian retaliation.

Eurobank reportedly warned that the move could be seen as “seizure”, which would harm the EU’s investment climate.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is set to host his Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michael in Berlin.

After a ceremony with military honors, the two leaders are set to discuss security on NATO’s eastern flank, a topic that has taken on greater importance following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Estonia shares a 300-kilometre (186 mi) border with Russia and has reported the presence of Russian drones or military jets in its airspace several times in the past week.

Estonia, which like Ukraine used to be part of the Soviet Union, has been one of Kiev’s most consistent supporters since the Russian invasion.

DW spoke to exiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya about how the fates of her home country and Ukraine are intertwined and how both “post-Soviet states” are vital to European security.

After meeting with Ukrainian officials in Kiev, US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll held talks with a Russian delegation in Abu Dhabi.

He is rapidly becoming a prominent figure in American foreign policy.

Read the whole story to find out who Dan Driscoll really is.

US President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to Moscow next week to meet with Russian counterparts as European leaders rush to revise a US-backed peace plan.

Watch DW’s The Day with Phil Gale for the full story:

Thanks for staying with us today as we bring you the latest from Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The Trump administration is pushing for a new 28-point peace accord, which Ukraine and its European allies have sought to amend saying it favors Russia.

Now, according to US President Donald Trump, US representatives are in talks with both Ukraine and Russia on a new draft, which has been “fine-tuned”.

Nevertheless, the EU has expressed doubt that Russia is ready for peace talks and has called for increased pressure to bring it to the table.