Ukrainian military forces badly damaged a bridge deemed critical for delivering food and other supplies to Russian soldiers in southern Ukraine, a region in which the Kremlin plans to cement its territorial gains, according to the foreign minister of Russia.
As reported in The Dallas Express, recent shipments of U.S. HIMAR rocket systems have enabled Ukraine to execute precision rocket strikes.
According to Russian officials, per AP News, Ukraine used these weapons to strike the Antonivsky bridge on Wednesday, the only crossing that permits the resupply of the Russian forces in the regional capital city Kherson and surrounding regions on the western side of the river.
Truck traffic on the Antonivsky bridge has halted while repairs are being made, stated Vladimir Saldo, the Kherson regional administration’s new Russia-appointed administrator.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov recently declared that Moscow plans to push further and establish control over a larger area of land outside of eastern Ukraine, including the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
Taken together, the Ukrainian missile strike on the strategically-significant Kherson area bridge and Lavrov’s comments suggest that the almost five-month conflict, which has primarily been confined to eastern Ukraine since April, might be expanding, according to AP News.
Lavrov emphasized that when negotiations between the Kremlin and Ukraine to cease hostilities began in March, “[Russia’s] readiness to accept the Ukrainian proposal was based on the geography of March 2022.”
“Now it’s a different geography,” Lavrov stated before reiterating the Kremlin’s allegations that the U.S. and UK were pressuring Ukraine to escalate the situation militarily.
People who have fled Russian-controlled Kherson said that since Moscow’s forces started their takeover in early March, their city has changed beyond recognition.
Around 400 people travel to the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih each day from Russian-occupied territory in the country’s south and east, arriving at the industrial city’s comparatively secure location about 40 miles north of the frontline. Since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, more than 61,000 people have sought safety there.