Crimea bridge: Russia will 'repair damage caused by explosion by July 2023'

 

The Russian government has ordered contractors to complete repairs on a major bridge connecting Crimea to Russia by July 2023.

The bridge was damaged by an explosion last Saturday, which officials say killed at least three people.

Russia blamed Ukraine for the attack, but Kyiv did not say it was behind it.

The 19 km (12 mi) bridge, Europe's longest, is a major supply route for the Russian military in Ukraine, but heavy goods vehicles are unable to use it.

Due to the explosion, the middle of one of the two carriageways of the bridge fell into the sea and the railway line was also damaged.

Currently, lorries have to queue for a ferry, a process believed to take several days.

However, the bridge has been reopened for rail and light road traffic.



In other developments on Friday:

• Ukrainian officials are urging the Red Cross to visit the infamous Olenivka prison in the Russian-occupied east within three days

• The BBC Russian Service says it has identified more than 7,500 Russian service personnel who have died in the Ukraine war, although the actual level of casualties is thought to be much higher.

• Elon Musk has said that his rocket company SpaceX cannot continue indefinitely to fund Starlink internet service in Ukraine - now seen as critical to the country's communications infrastructure - amid reports he has The Defense Department has been asked to do so.

• Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has supported the Russian proposal to set up a gas hub in Turkey to supply Europe.

• A UK intelligence report states that Russian forces of the private military company Wagner Group have captured two villages in the Donetsk region, in their first successful advance in three months to the region

A document on the Russian government's website said it had appointed the company NizhnegarskTransstroy as the sole contractor tasked with "the design and restoration of destroyed elements of the transport and engineering infrastructure of the Crimean Bridge".

It "sets a deadline by which state contracts for work are to be completed ... 1 July 2023".

The bridge was opened by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2018, four years after Russia's annexation of Crimea.




Connecting eastern Crimea to southern Russia's Taman Peninsula across the Kerch Strait, it is considered a demonstration project of Mr. Putin's regime.

The Russian president described Saturday's attack as an "act of terrorism" by Ukraine.

• Who - or what - blew up the Crimean bridge?

There was widespread celebration in Ukraine after the attack, but the Kyiv government has denied it was involved.

Massive Russian air strikes on Monday targeting cities across Ukraine, killing civilians and damaging infrastructure, were presented by Moscow as a response to the attack on the bridge.

However, analysts say that preparations for the strike may have been made weeks in advance.