After Russian attack on Odesa region, authorities rebuild logistics and look for alternative routes
After a Russian attack on the bridge over the Dniester near the village of Mayaki in Odesa region, traffic on the M15 Odesa-Reni highway has been virtually stopped. This has made it difficult to connect the south of the region with checkpoints on the border with Moldova and the Danube.
Vice Prime Minister for Recovery and Minister of Community and Territorial Development Oleksiy Kuleba said that the government, together with military administrations, road services and border guards, is working on alternative logistics. It is about passenger transport, freight transport and transit flows. Routes are redirected based on the security situation and road capacity.
Coordination with Moldova is ongoing. The parties are working on backup transit corridors to avoid a transport collapse and ensure the continuous operation of logistics in southern Ukraine.
Damage to the bridge temporarily blocked traffic to settlements in the western part of Odesa region and a number of checkpoints on the Ukrainian-Moldovan border. At the same time, the checkpoints in Chernivtsi and Vinnytsia regions are operating normally, although the Mohyliv-Podilskyi - Otach checkpoint is currently overloaded.
Ukrainian Railways also responded to the situation by assigning additional groups of cars to Chisinau from Odesa and Kyiv. Tickets for flights starting on 20 December are already on sale. The company said it is ready to increase the number of seats in case of further growth in demand.
As a reminder, on 19 December, a Russian drone hit a car driving across a bridge in the Mayakiv area. A woman was killed, and her three children were injured and suffered acute stress reactions. Following the attack, temporary restrictions were introduced on the border with Moldova, including on the movement of trucks and vehicles weighing more than 3.5 tonnes.
The head of the Odesa Regional Military Administration urged citizens not to publish photos and videos of the aftermath of the strikes and alternative routes for security reasons.
