Restoration of Crimea bridge will take 2 months and cost $15mn, Russia says 

Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin announced this, Kommersant reports.

According to preliminary data, the restoration of the Crimean Bridge will cost 1-1.3 billion rubles (15 million US dollars - ed.), the Deputy Prime Minister said.

"Yesterday, we started delivering pipes and metal structures from Togliatti. We will build it in two months," the official said during an Open Dialogue with Russian senators. The temporary bridge will be 250 metres long, as it is impossible to approach the damage from the sea.

Currently, the bridge is being used in reverse. According to Marat Khusnullin, two-way traffic on one side of the Crimean bridge will be launched by September 15, and on the other side - by November 1.

There are no plans to allow trucks to cross the Crimean bridge in the near future due to security concerns, he said.

Crimea bridge explosion 

The explosions on the Crimean bridge occurred in the morning of 17 July, after which the occupation authorities declared an "emergency" and accused the Ukrainian military of the attack. Damage to the roadway was found on the spans, and 2 deaths were reported.

The Security Service of Ukraine said that all details of the explosion on the Crimean bridge would be disclos would be disclosed after Ukraine's victory ed after Ukraine's victory in the war against Russia.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin convened an emergency meeting, where he promised "Russia's response" for the explosion on the Crimean bridge.

And Russian media claimed that the Ukrainian Defence Forces had allegedly shelled the "land route" from Russia to Crimea more than 20 times in a month.

Maxar Technologies published satellite images of the Crimean bridge after the nighttime explosion on July 17.

On July 18, Western analysts from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) noted that an attack on the Crimean bridge, which completely disrupted traffic, could complicate the logistics of the occupying Russian forces in southern Ukraine amid the Ukrainian Armed Forces' counteroffensive.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told the UN that Russia is using the Crimean bridge to continue the war in Ukraine, and that it was built illegally.