Following the recent attack on the Crimean Bridge, Russia has revised the timeline for repairing this illegal structure. The key military logistics facility from mainland Russia to Russian-occupied Ukrainian Crimea is to be restored by 31 December 2023.

The relevant changes to the previous resolutions of the Russian government were made on 24 July. According to Russian propagandists, the order to change the repair time appeared on the Russian government's website.

"The Russian government has extended the deadline for the restoration of the Crimean bridge until 31 December this year," Russian propaganda media began reporting on 25 July.

The Russian government's website published an order dated 24 July, which proposes to change the deadline for completing the repair of the Crimean Bridge of 13 October 2022. At the time, after the first attack on the structure, the Russian government had expected to complete its restoration by 1 July 2023. Now, after the second attack, the deadline for completing the restoration work has been pushed back to 31 December.

The reasons for the shift in the completion date of the restoration work are not specified in the order. However, as early as this morning, Russian propagandists were spreading a statement by Natalia Gumenyuk, head of the Joint Coordination Press Centre of the Southern Defence Forces, that the Crimean bridge would probably never return to its maximum capacity, accompanied by mocking comments and a clown emoji.

As a reminder, on the morning of 17 July, explosions occurred in the temporarily occupied Crimea. One of the spans of the Crimean Bridge collapsed. The occupiers stopped road and rail traffic, and the ferry crossing was also closed. The invaders advised Russians to go to the peninsula through the occupied territories on the mainland of Ukraine.

According to OBOZREVATEL's intelligence sources, the attack on the Crimean bridge was a special operation by the SBU and the Navy. The bridge was attacked using surface drones.

Meanwhile, the Security Service of Ukraine has officially commented on the explosions on the Crimean bridge. They stated that this facility is a legitimate military target for Ukraine, as it is used by the occupiers to supply their units in the occupied territories of our country and to transfer equipment and troops. In addition, the SBU promised to disclose the details of the organisation of the "cotton" after the victory.

The Financial Times called the explosions on the Crimean Bridge a "humiliating blow to the Kremlin". And Ukraine's Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov assured that Ukraine would continue to strike at the Crimean bridge

OBOZREVATEL has collected everything that was known about the attack on the Crimean bridge on 17 July here.

Only verified information is available in our Obozrevatel Telegram channel and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!