By building the Crimean Bridge, the Russian Federation planned to seize the Ukrainian Azov region, – Captain 1st Rank

The construction of the bridge blocked the central part of the shipping route, noted Andrey Ryzhenko.

The illegal construction of the Kerch Bridge by Russians has blocked the route to Ukrainian ports for a quarter of ships since 2018. Russia had planned to seize the Azov region in advance. Captain 1st rank in the reserve, former deputy chief of staff of the Ukrainian Navy Andriy Ryzhenko expressed confidence in this on air at Kiev24 .

According to him, the construction of this bridge blocked the central part of the shipping route, limiting the maximum height of ships. In particular, we are talking about Panamax type ships – container ships, tankers and the like.

“It was because of the closure of the central part of the Sea of Azov that a quarter of the ships stopped transporting metallurgy products from our ports, in particular, from Mariupol. Then, in 2018-2019, the volume of work at the Mariupol port was reduced by 30-40%. That is, this is a direct harm to the economy of Ukraine,” the specialist emphasized.

In his opinion, the Russians knew that the construction would significantly limit the passage of large ships to Ukrainian ports and harm the Ukrainian economy.

“The Russians were not at all concerned about this. I believe that even then, in 2016, they had plans to seize our Azov region so that the Azov Sea would become entirely theirs,” Ryzhenko said.

(C)UNIAN 2024