Russia has claimed that Ukraine has attacked a key pair of bridges that links the southern region of the war-torn nation to the occupied Crimean Peninsula.
According to Vladimir Saldo, the Moscow-installed governor in Ukraine’s occupied Kherson region, the parallel Chonhar bridges bridges were both damaged in the strike on Thursday using long-range British missiles, reports the BBC.
In a video posted on social media, Saldo is seen walking around the wreckage, and says that the attack won’t decide any results of the special operation”.
“Special operation” is the term used by Russia for its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
The Mayor however admits that because of the attack, deliveries of food and other essentials will get a “little harder” since they will have to use another, longer route to the West through Armyansk and Perekop, which are closer to Ukrainian positions, CNN reported.
The bridges are the shortest route from Crimea to the frontline in southern Ukraine.
It is also an important link to the occupied city of Melitopol, which lies on the coastal route from the Russian border across southern Ukraine to Crimea.
Melitopol is thought to be one of the targets of Ukraine’s counter-offensive, which began in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia on June 10, the BBC rpeorted.
Meanwhile, another Russian-installed official, Nikolai Lukashenko, said repairs could take weeks.
Speaking to national TV, Ukrainian military spokeswoman Natalia Humeniuk said the army was aiming to disrupt Russia’s supply routes and military intelligence official, Andriy Yusov, said more attacks would follow.
Russian forces seized the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 and then in February 2022 they invaded Ukraine’s southern coastal region as well.
Ukrainian forces have bombed Russian-controlled bridges in the region before.
Last summer, in the weeks before they recaptured the city of Kherson on the east bank of the Dnipro river, they repeatedly attacked the Antonivskiy bridge to stop Russian forces bringing supplies from occupied Crimea.
Then in October, a bridge across the Kerch Strait linking Crimea to Russia was put out of action for weeks in a deadly attack condemned by President Vladimir Putin called an “act of terrorism”.
Even now the Kerch bridge is not open to all traffic.
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