Moscow accuses kyiv of attacking strategic bridge linking Crimea with Kherson with missiles

Moscow accused kyiv of destroying the structure known as the “gate to Crimea.” Russian forces on the peninsula annexed by the Kremlin in 2014, said that a long-range British or French missile, Storm Shadow, had exploded on the Chongar Bridge.

Russia and Ukraine control different sides of Kherson province, which is the focus of fighting as Ukrainian troops try to retake their Russian-occupied territory.

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The eastern side of Kherson is mostly controlled by the invading troops, while the western side remains under Ukrainian rule.

The destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam, on June 6, caused flooding that spread throughout the territory and affected the supply of basic inputs for citizens such as water or electricity.

Seizing control of this region that stretches from the western coast of the Azov Sea to the eastern bank of the Dnieper River was one of Russia’s greatest successes in the war, as it guaranteed to Moscow that Crimea would no longer be cut off from the territory. controlled by his troops.

Explosion on the Chongar bridge, part of the strategy in the Ukrainian counteroffensive?

Meanwhile, the event of this Thursday, June 22, may represent an advantage for Ukraine in its plan to recover the peninsula and could serve as a key point in future negotiations.

Although the damage to the bridge left no casualties, its structure was severely damaged. The president of the Crimean Parliament, Vladimir Konstantinov, assured that the place would be “repaired over the next few days.”

However, a Transport Ministry official said the repair could take “several weeks”.

On the Ukrainian side, initially the spokesman for the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Andrii Yusov, did not confirm the participation of his country in the event, but indicated on television that it could be an event that is part of a ” process in progress” greater, something that analysts interviewed by Reuters indicate that it could be the Ukrainian counter-offensive.

“If the stars are on, it means it was done for a reason, right? We can only say there will be a sequel,” Yusov said, paraphrasing the introduction to a well-known work by Russian poet Vladimir Mayakovskyi.

Hours later, the attack was claimed by Ukrainian intelligence under the current counteroffensive by its troops in the south of the country.

This week, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Ukraine planned to use US-made HIMARS and UK-supplied Storm Shadow missiles to attack “Russian territory”, including Crimea.

At the time, Shoigu warned that the use of such shells against targets outside the main war zone “would trigger immediate attacks against decision-making centers on the territory of Ukraine.”

Warnings about attacks on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant

This Thursday, Ukrainian intelligence agencies announced that Russia would be considering carrying out a “terrorist attack” at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, in southern Ukraine and the largest in Europe. Those sources point out that they are based on information gathered from Moscow, about which they gave no further details.

Warning about this eventual assault, President Volodímir Zelenski assured that “unfortunately” it could affect places beyond the borders of his nation.

“I have repeatedly had to remind myself that radiation has no state borders, and who it will hit is determined only by the direction of the wind. We share all available information with our partners around the world. Europe, America, China, Brazil, India, the Arab world, Africa, all countries, absolutely everyone should know this,” stressed the Ukrainian president.

“There should never be any terrorist attacks against nuclear power plants anywhere. This time it should not be like with Kakhovka, the world has been warned, so the world can and must act,” Zelensky added.

“This is just a lie from Ukraine”

Moscow hastened to deny these words of the Ukrainian president. Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov called the statements made by Zelensky on video a “lie”.

In addition, Peskov recalled that the Russian side recently had contact with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and that it is expected that this Friday, June 23, there will be another meeting with the organization’s director general, Rafael Grossi, and the agency’s director. Russian atomic Rosatom, Alexei Likhachev, in Kaliningrad.

“Our dialogue and cooperation with the IAEA continues, we are interested in maintaining these contacts. The IAEA is interested, everything else is lies. We received a very high assessment from the IAEA. They saw everything, everything they wanted to see,” he concluded. Peskov.

Breakthrough of the Ukrainian counteroffensive

The military spokesman for the Ukrainian forces indicated that between Wednesday June 21 and Thursday June 22 their troops managed to advance one kilometer towards the Russian-occupied cities of Melitopol and Berdiansk, in the south of the country.

The spokesman of the Tavria Operational Strategic Group of Ukraine, Valeri Shershen, also noted that the “tactical” move of their uniformed officers managed to injure 236 Russian soldiers with a balance of 129 casualties.

In total, in the last three weeks, Ukraine would have advanced 7 kilometers in the territory it wants to recover, according to information from the Ukrainian prime minister, Denys Shmyhal.

“As the president of Ukraine said yesterday, the counteroffensive is not a Hollywood movie. It is not easy,” Shmyhal told reporters at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London.

In other developments on Thursday, an explosion and fire at a 16-story residential building in the Ukrainian capital killed three people and injured five others.

Serhii Popko, head of Kiev’s military administration, assured that a gas leak was the main hypothesis of the explosion that caused the deflagration, which was controlled after working hours by the fire brigade teams.

With EFE, Reuters and AP