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China calls parties involved to protect safety of civilians after Kiev's deadly bridge attack

Global Times

By GT staff reporters Published: Jul 18, 2023 11:17 PM

China on Tuesday called on all parties involved in the Ukraine crisis to refrain from attacking civilian facilities and objects, protect the safety of civilians and abide by international humanitarian law after Ukraine claimed responsibility for the attack on the key Crimean bridge that killed two adults and injured one child.

Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed on Monday that the Crimean bridge attack will not be left unanswered, TASS reported on Tuesday.

"Naturally, Russia's response will follow. The defense ministry is working on relevant proposals," he said at a government meeting on the situation around the bridge, according to TASS.

Twin explosions damaged the road part of the Kerch Bridge connecting Crimea to mainland Russia, killing a couple with their daughter being injured. Traffic across the bridge has been suspended.

The road and rail link is among the Kremlin's most important and high-prestige infrastructure projects, and the only overland link that goes directly from the Russian mainland to?Crimea, according to the Guardian on Monday.

Mao Ning, spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said at a press conference on Tuesday that China's position on the Ukraine crisis is consistent and clear. We hope that all parties will be committed to a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis and work together to ease the situation, Mao stated.

China believes that relevant parties should refrain from attacking civilian facilities and objects, protect the safety of civilians and abide by international humanitarian law, Mao stressed.

As Putin warned about Russia's response to Kiev's attack on the Kerch Bridge, Cui Hongjian, director of the Department of European Studies at the China Institute of International Studies, believes that Russia could take retaliatory actions that may include two aspects - using more lethal weapons or expanding the scope of attacks on Ukraine, such as targeting an expanded area including Kiev and the Black Sea.

But the expert believes it is less likely to upgrade weapon strikes in the short run. There is no immediate risk of Moscow using nuclear weapons, according to Cui.

Yang Jin, an associate research fellow at the Institute of Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, has similar views over the possible retaliatory actions from Moscow.

Yang warned such tit-for-tat actions could become the norm during the conflicts such as attacking each other's major strategic projects.

This is not the first time that the Crimean bridge has been attacked during the Russia-Ukraine conflicts. In October, 2022 the damage to the Crimean Bridge caused by a truck explosion served as a "symbolic incident" of the months-long Russia-Ukraine conflict. Hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed Ukraine for the Crimean Bridge explosion and calling the blast "a terrorist act," several Ukrainian cities came under missile attacks.

The situation is still in a state of escalation, and the two sides could attack each other more publicly and at a larger scale, Yang warned.

Kiev received a stockpile of cluster munitions from the US last week, but Putin said Moscow is now ready to deploy the same weaponry against Ukraine for tit-for-tat actions, CNBC reported Monday.

Later after the bridge attack on Monday, Russian presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the Black Sea shipping agreements have been effectively terminated on Monday - the part of the deal concerning Russia has not been fulfilled, according to TASS.

"As soon as the Russian part [of the deal] is fulfilled, the Russian side will immediately return to the implementation of this deal," Peskov added.

Cui said Russia hopes the West will reduce sanctions against it based on the food export agreements, allowing for the export of their grain and fertilizers. Previously, Russia had expressed its unwillingness to extend the agreements, and this time its stance is even more firm because the conflict between Russia and Ukraine may enter a new stage where the US begins employing maximum pressure tactics to force Russia to abandon its position and enter negotiations with a more realistic attitude, Cui pointed out.

Cui believes the best possible outcome is that the UN, Turkey and other countries engage in diplomatic mediation to persuade the West to make certain concessions in exchange for Russia's agreement on extending the deal, as the deal is not only important for the interests of both Russia and Ukraine, but a problem for food security, international grain prices and humanitarian concerns.

"If Russia were to completely disrupt grain shipments in the Black Sea region, it would have adverse effects on its future international standing," Cui added.