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Bridge over the River Dnipro: Key bridge still intact but impossible for Russian forces to use [1]

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Date: 2022-07-27  

x Footage of the damage on the Antonovskiy bridge after last night's strikes. Regional officials have closed traffic on the bridge.https://t.co/vbFgg2LsKK pic.twitter.com/GHLFYc6Qoc — Rob Lee (@RALee85) July 27, 2022

Butriy advised Russian occupiers to leave Kherson now because “Soon there will be no such opportunity.” He gave assurances that after Ukraine’s victory, transport connections across the bridge will be reestablished.

As Kos and Mark Sumner have mentioned, Ukraine has been intensifying military preparations for a major counter-offensive in the southeast by using its recently acquired HIMARS and other long-range weapons to strike targets behind Russian lines—including supply and fuel deports, command centers, and the bridges near Kherson.

Ukrainian forces have been recapturing nearby towns and villages, gradually advancing closer to Kherson itself. “I think there’s real concern among the Russians that they may end up with some strategic losses in the south,” William Alberque, director of the arms control program at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, told The Moscow Times, an independent Russian news outlet now operating out of Amsterdam due to censorship. "This is a matter of how many forces Ukraine can throw forward.”

On a Wednesday TV newscast, a Ukrainian Defense Forces spokesperson Natalia Humeniuk confirmed that Ukrainian forces had conducted high-precision missile strikes Tuesday night on the bridge. She said Ukraine has the firepower to control the logistical and transportation routes into Kherson to prevent the Russians from replenishing their supplies. “We are not destroying infrastructure, we are destroying the enemy’s plans,” she said. She added the artillery strikes are also aimed at demoralizing the Russian troops.

It was the third attack on the bridge in the past week—the two previous attacks were on July 19 and 20. Russian forces in Kherson rely on three major bridges to bring in men, equipment, and supplies—and all three have been damaged by Ukrainian strikes in the past two weeks, The Moscow Times reported.

Photos posted Sunday on Facebook by Kherson region official Yuriy Sobolevsky showed engineers repairing the Nova Kakhovka Bridge east of Kherson, while at least seven holes were blown in the Daryivka Bridge across the Inhulets River in a Ukrainian attack Saturday.

Mykhailo Podolyak, the adviser to the head of the president's office, put out the following tweet saying Russian occupiers should either leave Kherson or learn to swim across the Dnipro:

x Рідкісна птиця ВИЛЕТИТЬ із середини Дніпра. Можна, звісно, назвати Антонівський міст засобом ru-ППО, що перехоплює ua-ракети, але від реальності не втечеш: окупантам варто вчитися вплав перетинати Дніпро. Або залишити Херсон, поки є змога. Третього попередження може не бути. — Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) July 27, 2022

Podolyak trolled the Russians: "We can, of course, call the Antonivka bridge a means of Russian air defense that intercepts Ukrainian missiles, but you can’t escape from reality: the occupiers should learn to swim across the Dnipro. Or leave Kherson while they can. There may not be a third warning."

Podolyak’s remarks are mocking the official Russian news media reports which claim that Russia’s air defenses are intercepting most of the incoming Ukrainian missiles.

Here is what Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency was reporting Wednesday morning:

The authorities of the Kherson region blocked traffic on the Antonovsky bridge after a missile attack by Ukrainian troops, Deputy Head of the Regional Administration Kirill Stremousov told RIA Novosti. He clarified that the Armed Forces of Ukraine fired more than ten shells from various artillery systems, most of which were reflected by the air defense system. The shelling of the Antonovsky bridge may slightly complicate the life of the civilian population of the region, but "it will not affect the outcome of hostilities in any way," Stremousov continued. He stressed that the military has already built several ferry crossings and pontoons, food will be delivered on time.

This is classic propaganda—traffic is blocked but most of the Ukrainian missiles were intercepted; the shelling will complicate the lives of civilians but not military operations.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/7/27/2112888/-Bridge-over-the-River-Dnipro-Key-bridge-still-intact-but-impossible-for-Russian-forces-to-use

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