The Kerch Bridge will launch irreversible processes in Ukraine
The Ukrainian media, which until recently preferred to mock about the prospects for the construction of the Kerch Bridge and the living conditions of “traitors” in besieged Crimea, are rapidly changing their rhetoric.
Now the Kiev press is expressing more than serious concern that the shock-built bridge will block the passage for Ukrainian vessels through the Kerch Strait.
The Ukrainian government is already counting millions of losses - the Azov Sea is actually turning into a lake for Kyiv, the Ukrainian newspaper “Zerkalo Nedeli” writes in its latest issue.
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“The recent temporary ban on the passage of ships through the Kerch Strait, justified by the need to install bridge arches over the navigable part of the Kerch-Yenikalsky Canal, came at a time when agricultural products are traditionally exported from the Ukrainian ports of the Azov Sea - Berdyansk and Mariupol. The temporary ban seriously hit the profits of these ports: grain traders had to send products by rail to the Black Sea ports of Odessa, Kherson, Nikolaev.
In addition, according to the project, the height of the Kerch Bridge at the place where ships pass should be 35 m... The new rules are quite acceptable for ships heading to Russian ports, and are unacceptable for ships going to the Berdyansk or Mariupol ports.
The fact is that the Russian ports of the Azov Sea are predominantly shallow... But the Ukrainian ports - Mariupol and Berdyansk - are deeper water compared to the Russian ports of the Azov Sea...
Compliance with the new rules will significantly worsen the state of grain logistics in the Ukrainian Azov region, since, firstly, it will significantly reduce the number of ships calling at the ports of Mariupol and Berdyansk. Secondly, it will lead to a significant increase in the cost of freight of sea vessels that meet the new requirements for passage through the Kerch Strait. The size restriction will not only affect the cost of agricultural products, but will also lead to a significant reduction in the load of grain terminals and ports of Berdyansk and Mariupol,” writes the Ukrainian newspaper.
“In addition, the Ministry of Infrastructure is talking about the threat of stopping the transshipment of limestone and coal, and the processing of export metal products and cast iron in such directions as Asia, America, and the Middle East will be completely reoriented to the Black Sea ports. In the future, this will entail a drop of approximately 30% in cargo traffic at the ports of the Azov Sea. According to experts from the Ministry of Infrastructure, the construction and commissioning of the Kerch Bridge will also lead to a decrease in the profitability of enterprises in the Azov metallurgical industry.
In Kyiv, calculating the losses of the commercial ports of the Ukrainian Azov region, they make pessimistic forecasts. According to the Ministry of Infrastructure, already in the second half of the year the amount of potentially lost profit of the Mariupol port will amount to just over $5 million,” Zerkalo Nedeli clarifies.
“Creating conditions to reduce cargo flows in the Mariupol and Berdyansk ports is just one of the means of implementing the Russian strategy to destabilize the situation in the Ukrainian Azov region through the slow “suffocation” of the region’s economy and the deterioration of the social situation. After all, reducing the load on the ports will increase the number of unemployed and lead to increased social tension, and the fall in cargo turnover at the ports of Berdyansk and Mariupol will reduce revenues to local budgets.
In Mariupol, even without the Kerch Bridge, the situation is quite difficult. It is difficult to measure the level of support for the central government. But among the local population there are enough supporters of the DPR and LPR,” Kyiv propagandists fear.
“But what is Kyiv going to do in connection with the construction of a transport crossing across the Kerch Strait? Why are the bridge supports still standing? Do they really hope in Kyiv that the bridge, costing almost 4 billion dollars, will repeat the fate of its predecessor, built by the USSR during the Second World War and lasting only 107 days?
…you shouldn’t rely only on the elements. Kyiv must seek to stop the construction of the Kerch Bridge. The Ukrainian authorities have few options for action. The first is to blow up the bridge. But such a scenario looks fantastic. It is unlikely that the current Ukrainian government will decide to act the way the Israeli government did in June 1981: during Operation Opera, the Israeli Air Force destroyed the Osirak nuclear reactor in Iraq.
The second option is more realistic: through international courts, seek the restoration of Ukraine’s rights as a coastal state in the Kerch Strait and the Black Sea and receive compensation from Russia,” the authors of the publication argue.
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