Armed Forces of Ukraine confirm successful air attack on bridge near Chonhar
The Ukrainian Armed Forces have confirmed that they carried out a successful air attack on a bridge linking the Russian-occupied part of Kherson Oblast with Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Crimea, near the town of Chonhar.
The Strategic Communications Department of
the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Telegram reported that the attack was carried
out on the morning of July 29.
"The Defense Forces of Ukraine
successfully struck the Chonhar bridge in the morning of 07/29/2023. Glory to
the Armed Forces of Ukraine!" the department said in a short message, without
giving any further details.
The Russian-occupied part of Kherson Oblast
is connected to Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Crimea by both road and rail bridges
in the north-eastern part of the Crimean Peninsula.
Earlier, the Russian-installed head of the
occupation authorities in Kherson Oblast, Volodymyr Saldo, said that on July 29the Defense Forces allegedly tried to destroy the railway bridge between the oblast
and Crimea.
At the time, he said 12 long-range Storm
Shadow missiles were allegedly shot down by Russian air defenses. Russian
authorities typically claim that all attacking missiles are shot down by air
defenses.
Meanwhile, Russian tourists claimed in social
media chats that all cars had been stopped at a checkpoint in front of Chonhar,
saying that the Chonhar bridge was closed because it had been "blown up."
Moreover, damage to the bridge was reported by local residents.
The bridges linking the Russian-occupied
part of Kherson Oblast with the north-eastern part of the Crimean Peninsula
have been attacked several times.
After an earlier attack on the Chonhar road
bridge on July 5, the Ukrainian military’s General Staff confirmed that the
bridge had been hit by Storm Shadow cruise missiles.
The Russian invasion forces also said there
had been an attack on the night of June 22 on the Chonhar road bridge.
At that time, Andrii Yusov, a
representative of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of
Defense, succinctly reacted to the attack on the Chongar bridge, saying that
"there will be more."
The Kremlin has refused to comment on the
attack on the bridge: the press secretary of the Russian dictator Vladimir
Putin, Dmytro Peskov, referred journalists to the Russian Ministry of Defense
for comment.
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