RUSSIA/UKRAINE: Ukrainian missiles hit the Chonhar road bridge, which connects Crimea with Russian-occupied swathes of the southern Kherson region, overnight, compelling traffic to be diverted to another route, Russian-appointed officials stated on Thursday.
The so-called “gate to Crimea,” also referred to as the Chongar Bridge by Russians with a different spelling, is one of the handfuls of bridges between Crimea, which Moscow invaded from Ukraine in 2014, and mainland Ukraine.
It is near a route that the Russian military uses to travel between Crimea and other regions of Ukraine under its control.
Kyiv says it desires to recover Crimea and expel all Russian troops from its borders. The strike was “a blow to the military logistics of the occupiers,” said a Ukrainian politician, Yuriy Sobolevsky, who serves on the Kherson region’s governing body.
“The psychological impact on the occupiers and the occupying power is even more important. There is no place on the territory of the Kherson region where they can feel safe,” he stated through the Telegram messaging service.
Russian investigators stated that Ukrainian forces had launched four missiles at the bridge, according to news reports. One of the missiles’ remains had markings on them that appeared to have been built in France, according to a military investigators’ spokesperson who was quoted in the article.
Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-appointed governor of Kherson, portions of which Russian soldiers have occupied during what Moscow refers to as its “special military operation,” claimed that although the road bridge had been broken, there had been no fatalities.
In one picture Saldo posted on Telegram, the bridge’s surface had a huge hole in it, with water visible beneath it and other debris all over the place. Saldo conjectured that the attack might have utilised UK-provided Ukrainian Storm Shadow cruise missiles.
According to Saldo, Kyiv intend to scare Kherson locals and instill fear in the populace, but they will fail. “We know how to quickly fix bridges; automobile traffic will be resumed in the near future,” he said.
“We have an answer for every move the enemy makes,” he added. A link between the Kherson region and Crimea remains operational; a temporary route for vehicular traffic has been established, as per Saldo.
Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian-appointed governor of Crimea, advised the populace to maintain their composure and stated that experts were inspecting the scene to determine when traffic across the bridge could resume.
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