Ukraine estimates losses from Russia's Kerch bridge at tens of millions of hryvnias

Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan says the construction of the Kerch bridge by Russia destabilizes the situation at the Ukrainian sea ports of Mariupol and Berdyansk, while Ukraine loses are estimated at tens of millions of hryvnias.

Read alsoEpic fail at Crimea bridge construction"We are losing a lot of money due to limitations of the parameters of ships, which now cannot pass under the bridge arches. According to modest estimates – tens of millions of hryvnias – but I think that it is much more, because we are losing jobs. Russia is deliberately fueling the difficult social situation in Mariupol and Berdyansk," he told RFE/RL's Ukrainian bureau on April 9.

The minister expects that in the future, "this will be a bridge, connecting Ukraine's Crimea with the Ukrainian Kuban."

According to Omelyan, Ukraine's infrastructure and justice ministries are preparing international lawsuits against Russia over the illegal construction.

"I believe that there will be penalties. The reparations will be serious," the official said.

Director of the Mariupol Commercial Sea Port Oleksandr Oliynyk earlier said that 144 ships, the port used to work with, would be unable to pass to Mariupol due to the construction of the Kerch bridge.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who visited the annexed Crimea on March 14, 2018, said he wants the bridge to be ready by the summer of 2018.

He announced the need to build the bridge from Russia to Crimea through the Kerch Strait immediately after Russia's annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula in March 2014.