An unverified video that appeared to be first published on Ukrainian Telegram channel Horevica on Sunday shows the moment Russian air defense systems failed to intercept a Ukrainian attack using HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Missile Systems) on the Antonovsky Bridge. Ukraine has targeted the bridge several times using high-precision munitions. It is important because it is the only road bridge that connects Kherson, located on the west side of the Dnieper River, with a part of the Kherson region on the other side. The bridge is the main crossing over the Dnieper and is a key route for Russia to supply its forces holding territory in southern Ukraine. A soldier of the Ukrainian special forces unit Kraken surveys the area on a damaged road bridge near the village of Rus’ka Lozova, north of Kharkiv, on May 16, 2022. Ukraine has targeted the Antonovsky bridge several times using high-precision HIMARS ammunition supplied by US DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP/Getty Images The head of the Joint Press Center of the Southern Defense Forces Nataliya Khomenyuk told reporters during a briefing on Sunday that the strikes on the bridge have left Russian forces unable to move heavy equipment. “The strikes caused at present do not allow the use of these bridges for the movement of heavy equipment,” Ukrainskaya Pravda quoted Khumenyuk as saying. “We are conducting fire control on all transport and logistics arteries in the occupied areas, because we realize, as do the occupying forces, that the enemy is very dependent on these arteries.” Humenyuk said the Ukrainian armed forces had already hit the Antonovsky Bridge, a railway bridge in Kherson and the Kakhovsky Bridge. He stressed that the bridges are not completely destroyed. “Currently, we see and observe how the leadership of these military units is slowly using these remnants of transport routes to evacuate to the left bank in order to feel safe,” the spokeswoman added. Last week, the British Ministry of Defense said in an intelligence briefing that Russia had only achieved superficial repairs to the damaged Antonovsky road bridge, “which likely remains structurally compromised”. The August 13 update said the two main road bridges “giving access to the enclave of Russian-occupied territory on its western bank [Dnieper] in the Kherson region’ was ‘probably out of use for the purposes of essential military supply’. (5/6) Even if Russia manages to make significant repairs to the bridges, they will remain a key vulnerability. Ground supply for the many thousands of Russian troops on the west bank almost certainly depends on just two ferry crossings. — Ministry of Defense 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) August 13, 2022 Ukrainian precision strikes on August 10 likely rendered the Dnieper road crossing at Nova Kakhovka unusable for heavy military vehicles, it said. “Even if Russia manages to make significant repairs to the bridges, they will remain a key vulnerability,” the Defense Ministry argued. Newsweek has reached out to the Ukrainian and Russian foreign ministries for comment.
