Five months after Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed militants disengaged near the front-line town of Stanytsya Luhanska, President Volodymyr Zelensky opened a pedestrian bridge there, connecting the two territories on Nov. 20.
The bridge between Ukrainian and Russian-occupied territories, which has been in ruins for four years, serves as one of the main pedestrian front-line cross points for civilians in Luhansk Oblast.
“A really important day for us today,” Zelensky said in a statement published on his official website. “Four months ago, we came here and there was no quality road, no buses, people couldn’t get there normally. There was no bridge.”
Pulling back forces and weapons in Stanytsya Luhanska, a town of 13,000 residents located 861 kilometers southeast of Kyiv, in late June started a round of disengagements Ukraine and Russian-backed militants carried out as part of the Steinmeier Formula, a plan which both sides agreed to on Oct. 1. After a full withdrawal, the occupied territories are set to hold elections according to Ukrainian legislation.
German Ambassador to Ukraine Anka Feldhusen, President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) and Martin Sajdik, special representative of the Special Monitoring Mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) chairperson-in-office in Ukraine and in the trilateral contact group, talk to the media after the opening of the reconstructed bridge that connects Ukrainian and Russian-occupied territories on Nov. 20, 2019, in front line town Stanytsya Luhanska, Luhansk Oblast. (President's Office)
Zelensky promised to rebuild the bridge, which crosses the Siverskyi Donets River, as a symbol of his effort to weld the war-torn country back together. The reconstruction was scheduled to be finished by the end of November.
When the president arrived at Stanytsa Luhanska on Nov. 20, he was told that the restoration was complete but the opening was scheduled for two days later. Zelensky ordered to open the bridge the same day, according to his press service.
In his Nov. 20 Facebook post, the president said that during his previous visits to the front line town, the bridge’s reconstruction was the most frequent request he heard from local citizens.
“Why wait? Negotiations about this lasted so long that at some point the arrangement seemed a miracle,” he wrote in a Facebook post on Nov. 20.
According to the president’s statement, the restoration is part of Ukraine’s international commitments to improve the humanitarian situation at the demarcation line.
People cross the reconstructed bridge that connects Ukrainian and Russian-occupied territories on Nov. 20, 2019, in front line town Stanytsya Luhanska, Luhansk Oblast. (President's Office)
French Ambassador to Ukraine Etienne de Poncins, German Ambassador Anka Feldhusen and Martin Sajdik, special representative of the Special Monitoring Mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) chairperson-in-office in Ukraine and in the trilateral contact group, joined Zelensky to check the bridge.
“We thank the OSCE, thank our close friends – the ambassadors of Germany, France – representatives of all the countries who come here and see that we are indeed doing it step by step. From promises – to real actions,” Zelensky said in the statement.
Zelensky also noted that the bridge won’t be accessible for heavy fighting vehicles like tanks, as the connection is too narrow for that.
“But an ambulance can easily cross (the bridge),” his post reads. “It is possible to transport food, and no extraordinary effort is needed to simply get from one side to the other,” he said.
While the bridge was in ruins, locals crossed the river by going down a ravine using makeshift stairs, which made for a laborious crossing.
