Ukraine invasion: Limited road traffic resumes on crucial Crimea bridge damaged by explosion
Ukraine invasion: Limited road traffic resumes on crucial Crimea bridge damaged by explosion
Traffic was initially suspended after a bridge linking Russia to occupied Crimea was damaged by a huge explosion. However, by Saturday evening, cars and buses were allowed to start crossing in alternating directions.
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The bridge became a major supply route for Russian forces after Moscow invaded Ukraine [source: Getty]
Russia's Transport Ministry said on Saturday that limited road traffic for cars and buses had resumed on intact lanes of the Crimean Bridge, which was hit by an explosion early in the morning.
It said traffic would for now be restricted to crossing between Crimea and the Russian Taman peninsula in alternating directions.
Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian-appointed governor of the Crimean peninsula, which Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014, said on social media that heavy goods vehicles would have to wait to cross by ferry.
The road-and-rail bridge linking Russia and the Crimean peninsula was damaged in a powerful blast on Saturday, hitting a crucial supply route for Russian forces in Ukraine.
The 19-km (12-mile) Crimea Bridge over the Kerch Strait is the only direct link between the transport network of Russia and the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
The bridge was a flagship project for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who opened it himself for road traffic with great fanfare by driving a truck across in 2018.
The structure was built, at a reported cost of $3.6 billion, by a firm belonging to Arkady Rotenberg, a close ally and former judo partner of Putin.
The bridge is crucial for the supply of fuel, food and other products to Crimea, where the port of Sevastopol is the historic home base of Russia's Black Sea Fleet.
[Reuters]
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