Russian-installed authorities in occupied southeastern Ukraine announced they would temporarily suspend President Vladimir Putin’s martial law order for those seeking alternative exit routes from Crimea after a deadly drone attack damaged a bridge connecting the annexed peninsula to mainland Russia early Monday.
Putin declared martial law — which restricts movement and sets curfews — in the partially-controlled Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions that he annexed last fall.
The Kremlin-installed heads of occupied Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia issued statements Monday ensuring round-the-clock traffic on roads leading to and from Crimea.
Eyewitnesses and live traffic maps showed major congestion along roads leading from northern Crimea into the occupied Kherson region, then onto the cities of Melitopol and Mariupol before reaching southern Russia’s Rostov region.
