REUTERS
Omelyan says the main problem was that the bridge limits navigation to the ports of Mariupol and Berdiansk.
Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan has said Ukraine lost at least UAH 500 million in 2018 due to the construction of the Kerch Strait bridge from Russia to the Russia-occupied Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea.
He says the main problem is that the bridge limits navigation to the ports of Mariupol and Berdiansk, Radio Liberty reports.
"According to our most conservative estimates, this year we have already lost UAH 500 million. These are direct losses due to the decrease in parameters of the vessels for transshipment in the ports of Mariupol and Berdiansk, but these losses are certainly much greater if we calculate the socio-economic effect, losses of ship owners and businesses. I believe it's about billions, and maybe not even in hryvnias," Omelyan said.
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As UNIAN reported earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the need to build a bridge across the Kerch Strait immediately after the annexation of Crimea in March 2014. Originally, the bridge was expected to be built before 2018 and put into operation in the summer of 2019.
Putin attended the official bridge opening ceremony on May 15.