Ukraine hits Chonhar Bridge, forcing Russia to reroute supplies through Crimea

Dmytro “Perun” Filatov, commander of the Dmytro Kotsiubailo 1st Separate Assault Regiment, said this on Suspilne Studio.

Filatov said Russian forces are being forced to build pontoon crossings and reroute supplies through Armyansk, but Ukrainian troops “fully control the situation.”

“Today, that traffic was completely halted. We carried out another operation. We will say later how it went. Because the Chonhar Bridge was damaged, the enemy concentrated a large number of trucks carrying military cargo that were moving through Armyansk. During the strike, we managed to hit trucks carrying fuel and ammunition. There were about 50 vehicles there, and some of them were destroyed,” he said.

He also said six hours passed between the decision to strike the Chonhar Bridge and the execution of the attack. The operation targeting the Armyansk bridge had been planned in advance because Ukrainian forces expected Russian troops to use that route as well, so they “were better prepared,” Filatov said.

“This operation would not have been possible if other units had not carried out strikes on Mariupol and the road to Berdyansk. That is what led the units positioned in the Hulyaipole sector to begin receiving supplies not through the roads of Mariupol, but through Crimea. They began ferrying trucks into Crimea on pontoons and then driving here from Crimea. We understood this and blocked those routes for them fairly quickly,” the commander added.

The strikes on the Chonhar Bridge

The attack on the bridge took place overnight on June 7. Because of serious damage to the roadway, representatives of the occupation administration in the captured part of Kherson Oblast were forced to officially announce the closure of traffic across the crossing.

Ukraine’s Defense Forces struck the Chonhar Bridge again overnight on June 9. Ukrainian troops officially confirmed another successful operation and released video of the attack.

Details later emerged about the units involved in the operation. They were fighters of CODE 9.2, the 475th Separate Assault Regiment of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, and pilots of the Dmytro Kotsiubailo 1st Separate Assault Regiment. Ukrainian troops said they attacked the strategic bridge using special equipment from Fire Point and long-range Behemoth drones.