Russia has announced that the previously severely damaged Crimean Bridge has been fully rebuilt and repaired, after a significant chunk of it was destroyed in an October 8 sabotage explosion which killed four people.
“The Crimean Bridge is fully open for automobile traffic in all its lanes 39 days ahead of schedule,” Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin announced Thursday. It appears an incredibly rapid fix, given the extent of damage, and the fact that the blast happened a mere less than 5 months ago.
“Already on December 5, two weeks ahead of schedule, we opened the right side of the bridge, which had been damaged the most,” Khusnullin added.
“Structural elements are currently being assembled and preparations are ongoing for their installation. The work is being carried out around the clock in two shifts, 305 people and 32 machinery units are involved,” the official explained.
Road traffic had resumed a hours after the October blast on the same day it occurred, but lanes were reduced and the parallel railway line was badly damaged. At least seven fuel tanks on the the railway section had been ignited, and an entire lane and large section of the roadway had been collapsed. The rapid repair appears confined to the automobile roadway part and not the rail line section.
Moscow had immediately blamed Ukrainian intelligence or its allies for the attack, to which President Zelensky responded that he “did not order” the attack. Russia further said it was based on “terrorist tactics” and had killed and wounded civilian bystanders.
Regional media circulated fresh footage of the entirety of the Crimean Bridge back in use…
Crimea Bridge fully reopens a day before the first anniversary of Russia-Ukraine conflict pic.twitter.com/lwB0J6o9Yg
— TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) February 24, 2023
According to more via the AFP:
On Telegram, Khusnullin said the reopening was a “big gift for Defender of the Fatherland Day,” the public holiday honoring the armed forces being celebrated in Russia on Thursday.
Khusnullin added that since the October explosion repair work had been “carried out round-the-clock”… The Russian government had ordered the bridge to be repaired by July 2023.
Repairs on the railway part of the bridge — also called the Kerch bridge — are ongoing, Khusnullin said.
The damage had been significant, as photos revealed:
Inaugurated by Putin in 2018 at a cost of $3.7 billion, the bridge has since been used as a key resupply route to Russian forces fighting in Ukraine. The attack had been the biggest escalation in the war up to that point, and was accompanied by strikes and bombings in the Crimean peninsula itself.
Tyler Durden
Sat, 02/25/2023 – 07:35
