Russia admits Crimean Bridge repairs will take longer as Ukraine vows it will never be the same
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Russia has extended the deadline for the restoration of the Crimean Bridge until the end of 2023 after the attacks in October 2022 and July 2023, according to the Russian government website, which reports that the deadline for rebuilding the bridge after the October explosion has been extended to Dec. 31, 2023.
At the same time, according to Ukraine’s Operational Command “South”, the bridge may never again be able to withstand the same load.
Natalia Humeniuk, head of the Joint Coordination Press Centre of the Southern Defence Forces, told Kyiv 24 TV channel that Russians sometimes stop traffic there because the production capacity of this hydraulic facility has not yet been reinstated.
"And probably they will never return it because the damage was quite significant to withstand the load that is now concentrated around this bridge," she said.
Humeniuk added that the return of cargo traffic is very slow, as the local administration is mostly trying to do it with the help of ferry crossings, but this severely slows down the traffic.
In the early hours of July 17, all traffic on the Crimean Bridge was suspended, as Sergei Aksyonov, the Kremlin-appointed “Crimean governor,” declared an “extraordinary event.”
Russian publications reported explosions and significant damage to at least one section of the bridge. Later, the occupation authorities announced the resumption of rail transportation, but road traffic was paralyzed.
An NV source in law enforcement reported that Ukraine’s Security Service and the Ukrainian Navy were involved in the incident. According to the source, the bridge was attacked using surface drones.
Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin, said that one span of the road part of the Crimean bridge cannot be restored.
This is the second case of explosions on the Crimean Bridge, which Russia uses to deploy armoured vehicles and manpower to southern Ukraine.
On Oct. 8, a powerful explosion occurred at the Crimean Bridge, which Russia employs to deploy armored vehicles and military personnel to southern Ukraine, resulting in the collapse of several sections into the Kerch Strait.
The Kremlin regime has accused Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukrainian military intelligence, of organizing the sabotage. However, Budanov has refuted these claims, dismissing them as “baseless accusations.”
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