Ukraine Attacks One Of Russia's Main Military Supply Routes In Crimea

Illustration of the Ukrainian military during the shooting of Howitzers. (Wikimedia Commons/Ministry of Defense of Ukraine/military journalist Taras Gren)

JAKARTA - Ukrainian missiles hit one of the bridges connecting the Crimean Peninsula, cutting off one of the main supply routes for the Russian military in South Ukraine, Moscow-appointed officials said Thursday.

The attack on the supply line was an attempt to disrupt Moscow's defenses over the occupied territories of the south, as Ukraine was in the early stages of a retaliatory attack in the war that had been going on for 16 months.

Vladimir Saldo, head of Russian administration in occupied Kherson Province, released a video of himself on the Chonhar road bridge, where an explosion occurred.

"Other meaningless actions taken by the Kyiv regime on orders from London. It did not complete anything as far as special military operations were concerned," he said, pledging to repair the bridge and restore traffic.

Ukraine does not claim responsibility for the vital bridge attack. Alternative routes require hours of turning for hours with poor road conditions.

Quoted by RIA, a Russian-placed transportation official said repairing the bridge could take weeks.

The bridge is beyond the reach of a battlefield rocket that Ukraine has used for a year. However, it is within the range of newly delivered weapons such as cruise missiles from Britain and France, allowing Kyiv to reach previously considered safe logistics routes by Russia.

The attack was a "hit against the colonial military logistics", said Yuriy Sobolevsky, a Ukrainian official at a government agency for the Kherson region.

"There is no place in the Kherson area where they can feel safe," he said.

RIA reported Russian investigators said four missiles were fired by Ukrainian troops on the bridge, RIA news agency reported, citing a sign on a missile indicating it was made in France.

Separately, Ukraine's Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malar on the Telegram app said Ukrainian forces were stemming Russia's military in the eastern region, not allowing any 'one meter' forward movement.

Meanwhile, in the southern region, where several villages were recaptured last week, Maliar said his troops were gradually moving forward.

"We have achieved some success. We beat back the enemy and leveled the front line," he wrote.

He further said fighting in the Lyman sector, north of the Donetsk region, was "the most difficult".

In the south, Ukrainian forces continued their intended attack to move towards the City of Melitopol in the Zaporizhia region and the Berdiansk port in the Azov Sea, he said.

It is known, Kyiv said so far it had reclaimed eight villages. However, it said it had not deployed the majority of its troops and had not yet reached Russia's main defense line.