Ukraine Allegedly Strikes Bridges to Crimea With UK-Supplied Missiles

Facts

• In the early hours of Thursday, Ukrainian missiles allegedly struck two bridges in Russian-controlled areas of the Kherson region that lead to Crimea, [the Black Sea peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.]¹
• Russian-appointed officials in the Kherson region said that one attack targeted the Chongar Bridge — or Chonhar Bridge in Ukrainian — while the other targeted the disused Syvash Bridge nearby.¹
• Images of the attacks shared by Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-appointed governor of the Kherson region, showed significant craters but didn't reveal major structural damage to the bridges. Saldo said: "According to a preliminary assessment, British Storm Shadow missiles were used."²
• Saldo further added that there were no casualties as a result of the strikes and that there was no impact to what he described as Russia's "special military operation" — stressing that the Chongar Bridge was only used as a civilian crossing. He said people could still travel between Kherson and Crimea, but they will have to travel further to another bridge while repair efforts take place.³
• The attacks came a day after Ukrainian Pres. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in an interview with the BBC, conceded that the country's counteroffensive was going "slower than desired." However, he insisted that Ukraine would not bend to outside expectations on how it should attack.⁴
• Nonetheless, in an update on Thursday, Ukraine's armed forces said it had "partial success" in three areas of attack and that it was "gaining a foothold" in said battles in the regions of Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia. Heavy exchanges of artillery fire have been reported in both regions.⁵

Sources: ¹TASS (a), ²Ukrainska Pravda, ³TASS (b), ⁴BBC News, and ⁵UKRINFORM.

Narratives

• Pro-Ukraine narrative, as provided by Ukrinform. Ukraine is continuing to attack in three heavily-contested areas but continues to report moderate advances and partial successes. Russian forces are suffering heavy losses of manpower and equipment as Ukraine continues to advance.
• Pro-Russia narrative, as provided by TASS. While Ukraine's counteroffensive continues, Russia sees a lull in the intensity of the attacks, and it hasn't yet been pushed back to its main defensive lines. Due to Ukraine's losses in personnel and equipment, this attack will soon be untenable for Ukraine.

Predictions