Ukraine ready to renovate Stanytsia Luhanska bridge as Russia-backed fighters stall efforts

Ukrainian authorities completed on Sept. 3 the
dismantling of the fortifications surrounding the ruined bridge in the town of
Stanytsia Luhanska on the Donbas demarcation line, the Luhansk regional
administration reported that evening. Rather than fulfilling their end of the
agreement for dismantling, the Russian-backed fighters added fortification
structures on their side of the bridge, reported on Aug. 29 Darka Olifer, the
spokeswoman for Leonid Kuchma, Ukraine’s representative to the Trilateral
Contact Group in Minsk. In particular, a booth has been placed on the bridge
“that will create real obstacles” in President Zelensky’s goal of renovating
the bridge, the regional administration confirmed on Sept. 3.

The Stanytsia Luhanska bridge renovation is among the
immediate tasks agreed upon in a Sept. 2 meeting in Berlin of Normandy Four
advisers, said on Sept. 3 Ukrainian Foreign Minister Oleh Prystaiko. Work is
concentrated on Stanytsia Luhanska, while postponing two other renovation
projects along the Donbas demarcation line. “I hope the achieved agreements,
all of which we intend to fulfill, will be implemented in the nearest future
and we will be able to open the path to a meeting at the highest level. There
is certain success, the results of which we intended to base the next meeting
upon,” he said in comments to the Ukrinform news agency. He added the Zelensky
administration is committed to “ending the war as soon as possible.”

Ongoing warfare in the Donbas region resulted in at
least three deaths of Ukrainian soldiers and eight wounded in the last week,
according to news reports examined by Concorde Capital on Sept. 4. Four of the
injuries were inflicted in the last 24 hours, the press service of the Joint
Forces Operation reported. The Russian-backed fighters engaged in scores of
shootings of Ukrainian positions along the separation line in both the Donetsk
and Luhansk regions (collectively known as “Donbas”), often using artillery
prohibited by the Minsk Accords peace agreement.