Ukrainian missiles on Thursday struck one of the few bridges linking the Crimean Peninsula with the Ukrainian mainland, Russian-appointed officials said, cutting one of the main supply routes for Russian occupation forces in southern Ukraine.
On the eastern front, Ukrainian forces were containing Russian troops and have not allowed “a single meter” of Russian advances, Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Defense Hanna Maliar wrote on Telegram on Thursday.
Ukrainian forces on the southern front, where several villages were retaken last week, were “gradually moving forward. We have had partial success. We are pushing back the enemy and leveling the front line,” she said.
Photo: REUTERS
Ukraine is attacking Russian supply lines to disrupt Moscow’s defense of occupied territory in the south, where Kyiv is in the early stages of its most ambitious counteroffensive of the 16-month-old war.
Kyiv said it has recaptured eight villages, but it has yet to commit the bulk of its forces to the fight and its troops have yet to reach the main Russian defensive lines.
Moscow-installed Kherson Governor Vladimir Saldo released a video of himself on the Chonhar bridge, where craters were blasted through the asphalt.
“Another meaningless act perpetrated by the Kyiv regime on orders from London. It solves nothing as far as the special military operation is concerned,” he said, vowing to repair the bridge and restore traffic.
Ukraine did not claim responsibility for the bridge attack.
The bridge is one of a handful of access roads to Crimea, which a narrow isthmus links to the Ukrainian mainland.
Alternative routes require hours-long detours over roads in poor condition.
Russia’s RIA news agency quoted Russian-installed transport officials as saying repairing the bridge could take weeks.
The bridge is beyond range of the battlefield rockets Ukraine has used for a year, but within reach of newly deployed weapons such as British and French air-launched cruise missiles, allowing Kyiv to hit logistics routes that Russia had deemed safe just weeks ago.
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