Ukrainian minister comments on infrastructure restoration after war with Russia

Russia's war against Ukraine - the main events of May 30

"The largest and most important bridges were damaged by the Russian army," he said.

Kubrakov added that temporary bridges were being built wherever possible. However, these bridges cannot normally be used by trucks.

"The risk of another offensive is still very high," he said.

"It will be so as long as this regime is in power in Russia. But Ukraine cannot wait for the change of Russian authorities, so now it is necessary to restore the infrastructure. This will kick off the economy. So far we have rebuilt about 50 bridges, all temporary."

According to the minister's calculations, it will take two years from the end of hostilities to fully restore Ukraine’s infrastructure.

"But that’s only on the condition that we have the financial resources and enough construction companies and workers," Kubrakov said.

He added that the reconstruction of destroyed buildings, schools and hospitals would take longer.

In addition, the infrastructure minister noted that there were difficulties not only with financing, but also with building materials, especially rolled metal.

"All the steel for our bridges came from Mariupol," Kubrakov said.

"Now we must try to import it from other countries."

Two large metallurgical plants are located in Mariupol, the Azovstal steelworks and the Illich iron and steelworks. Their facilities produced flat rolled steel, which was used, among other things, for the construction of infrastructure facilities.

The production capacities of Azovstal are almost destroyed, while information about the condition of the Illich iron and steelworks is limited.