Russia’s government has ordered contractors to finish repairs to a key bridge linking annexed Crimea to Russia by July 2023.
The bridge was damaged by a blast last Saturday which officials say left at least three people dead.
Russia blamed Ukraine for the attack but Kyiv has not said it was behind it.
The 19km (12-mile) bridge, Europe’s longest, is a key supply route for Russian forces in Ukraine, but heavy goods vehicles are unable to use it.
The explosion caused midway sections of two of the four carriageways of the bridge to collapse into the sea and also damaged the railway line.
Currently, lorries are forced to queue for a ferry, in a process which is thought to take several days.
A document on the Russian government’s website said it had appointed the company Nizhneangarsktransstroy to be the sole contractor, tasked with the “design and restoration of destroyed elements of the transport and engineering infrastructure of the Crimean Bridge”.
It sets “a deadline by which state contracts for the work are to be completed… of 1 July 2023”.
The bridge was opened by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2018, four years after Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
