Damage to the Crimea Bridge Has Created a Long Wait for Cargo Trucks Heading to Russia

Satellite images have captured hundreds of cargo trucks backed up and waiting to cross from Crimea into Russia ferry, days after an explosion on the bridge over the Kerch Strait, contradicting Russian authorities’ efforts to portray the situation there as under control.
The images captured Wednesday Maxar Technologies, a U.S.-based space technology company, show substantial backlogs at the ferry port of Kerch in Crimea, the peninsula Moscow illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014. They also show a line of trucks several miles away at an airport that is apparently being used as a staging area for freight vehicles attempting to cross ferry.
In other images, a ferry laden with cargo trucks is seen passing alongside the damaged bridge as repair teams work on the rail line and adjoining road.
Within hours of the blast Saturday, Russian-installed authorities in Crimea moved quickly to restore some traffic on the bridge, with Sergei Aksyonov, the Kremlin-installed leader of Crimea, stating Sunday that cars and trains could again cross the 12-mile span. He said that the road portion of the bridge would be closed for the time being to heavy vehicles, which would have to cross the strait ferry.
But the backup appears more significant than officials had initially let on. The wait time for cargo trucks to cross into Crimea was three to four days, Aksyonov said Wednesday on Telegram, a social messaging app.
The satellite images show cars traveling across undamaged portions of the bridge. But freight transport remains limited to ferry crossings, with their long wait times, or cumbersome — and risky — mainland routes through Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine.
The backlog appears to be primarily affecting commercial cargo vehicles; Moscow mainly uses the rail part of the bridge, which was restored within 24 hours of the explosion, to move military supplies to its occupying forces in southern Ukraine.
Oleg Ignatov, senior Russia analyst at the International Crisis Group, said the long lines for the ferry crossing have been exacerbated additional security checkpoints set up following the bridge explosion.
“They want to prevent another attack because they failed so badly before,” said Ignatov, referring to Russian authorities.
Ignatov also raised questions about Russia’s assurances that the bridge would be fully operational again within a month, saying that such promises could be an effort to assuage panic among civilians in Crimea.
Unverified video footage purportedly taken from the airport in Kerch, which lies several miles from the ferry port, showed trucks lined up along the runway. The trucks appear to bear logos of an assortment of commercial companies, including frozen goods suppliers and pharmaceutical brands. One truck is seen with its back doors open, exposing a teeming cargo of produce as it sits on the tarmac.