Ukraine’s Armed Forces used British long-range Storm Shadow missiles to hit the Chonhar Bridge that connects occupied Crimea and the occupied part of the Kherson Oblast in southern Ukraine, according to the Russian-installed governor of occupied Kherson Oblast Vladimir Saldo.
The Chonhar bridge is currently closed to passenger vehicles, Vladimir Saldo wrote on Telegram.
“Transportation to Crimea continues to operate via Chaplynka and Armiansk. We ask all passenger vehicle drivers to detour,” Saldo said.
The Russian-installed governor of the occupied Crimea, Sergei Aksionov, claimed that only one missile hit the Chonhar Bridge, and the Russian air defense took down the rest of the missiles. Aksionov confirmed the damage to the bridge.
However, the photos of the damage published by Vladimir Saldo on Telegram show that there are at least two holes in the Chonhar bridge caused by the strikes.
Ukraine's Armed Forces hit the Chonhar bridge in the occupied Kherson region (southern Ukraine)
— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) August 6, 2023
Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-installed governor of occupied Kherson Oblast, claimed Ukraine used long-rage Storm Shadow missiles to hit the bridge.
????https://t.co/JHLq4LKEdp pic.twitter.com/WNciIZ2Q5k
Furthermore, Vladimir Saldo claimed that earlier today Ukraine’s Armed Forces also shelled the bridge across the Tonky Strait, which connects the town of Henichesk in the occupied Kherson Oblast with the Arabat Split that leads to the northeastern shore of the occupied Crimean Peninsula. According to Saldo, the Russian air defense took down nine out of 12 missiles.
The strikes on these ground lines of communication may create severe logistical challenges for the invading Russian forces in southern Ukraine and help the ongoing Ukrainian counteroffensive in the Zaporizhzhia Oblast.
The Chonhar Bridge is an important transportation route that Russia used to supply its forces in southern Ukraine via occupied Crimea. There are three key vehicular bridges and two railway bridges connecting Crimea to mainland Ukraine in three areas: the isthmus near Armiansk with bridges across the North-Crimean Canal (which is some 75 kilometers from the Ukrainian-controlled territories in the Kherson Oblast and, thus, is within the range of HIMARS strikes), Chonhar town with bridges across the Syvash lagoon, and Hechichesk with a bridge connecting the town with Crimea’s Arabat Spit.
Related: