TOP HEADLINES

· A blast on the Kirch bridge, a strategic road-and-rail overpass linking Russia to the Crimea peninsula, has brought down sections of the key transport link in Moscow's war in Ukraine. Kyiv has responded with gleeful messages, but did not claim direct responsibility for the attack. READ MORE BELOW

· Russia has opened a probe into the blast that blew up a truck and heavily damaged the bridge, saying it had "initiated a criminal case in connection with the incident on the Crimean bridge."

· Russian President Vladimir Putin marked his 70th birthday on Friday, but with little public celebration.

· Ukrainian authorities have found a mass grave in the recaptured town of Lyman, according to the regional governor. A senior police official told local media the grave contained 180 bodies.

· The U.S. says it sees no reason to change its nuclear posture and does not have indications that Russia is preparing to use nuclear weapons. The White House made the comments a day after President Joe Biden referred to the threat of a nuclear 'Armageddon.'

· The International Monetary Fund has approved Ukraine's calls for $1.3 billion in additional emergency funding to help sustain its economy amid the financially draining conflict. 

· The U.S. will soon be unable to provide Ukraine with ammunition essential to Kyiv's battle against Russian forces, as supplies of certain munitions are being used up faster than they can be replaced, according to analysts. 

· United Nations (UN) chief Antonio Guterres and his team are working to expand and prolong a deal allowing Ukrainian Black Sea grain exports, which could expire in late November.

· A UN human rights body has passed a motion to appoint a new independent expert on alleged human rights abuses in Russia, accusing Moscow of creating a "climate of fear" in the country. 

IN DETAIL

Massive blast destroys part of Russia-Crimea bridge

A massive explosion on the strategic road-and-rail bridge linking Russia to Crimea - a symbol of Moscow's occupation of the peninsula and a pet-project of Putin's - has brought down sections of the crucial Russian supply route to its forces in Ukraine. 

The blast, which struck at around 6:00am local time, was caused by a car bomb, according to Russia's national anti-terrorism committee, and apparently set fire to seven oil tankers being carried by rail to the peninsula.

Moscow said two sections of road bridge had partially collapsed, but that the arch crossing the Kerch Strait - the waterway through which ships travel between the Black Sea and Azov Sea - was unscathed.

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Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian governor of Crimea, said the road bridge was still intact in one direction, but traffic had been suspended in order to survey the damages.

The alleged attack has prompted gleeful messages from Ukrainian officials, but no direct claim of responsibility.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak posted a message on Twitter saying the blast was just "the beginning," adding: "Everything illegal must be destroyed, everything that is stolen must be returned to Ukraine, everything occupied by Russia must be expelled."

Moscow seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and erected the 19-km (12-mile) bridge linking it to Russia's transport network four years later. Putin personally opened the infrastructure project. 

During the Ukraine conflict, the overpass has become a crucial supply route for Russian forces who have taken control of most of Ukraine's adjacent Kherson region.

The Kremlin said Putin had instructed the government to create a state commission to investigate the incident.