KYIV (Reuters) – Ukrainian rocket fire hit an important bridge used by Russian occupying forces in southern Kherson region on Friday and put it out of action, Ukraine’s southern military command said.
“Rocket artillery units continued to conduct missions, including ensuring control over the Daryivskiy bridge. Its operation is currently halted,” the southern command said in a statement.
There was no immediate comment from Moscow.
The Daryivskiy bridge, which spans nearly 100 metres (yards), is the only Russian-controlled crossing across the Inhulets river, a tributary of the vast Dnipro.
The Inhulets splits the Russian-occupied land west of the Dnipro into two parts. Those parts are in turn connected to the eastern bank of the Dnipro – towards Russia – by one bridge each.
Both of those bridges have been hit by Ukrainian strikes in recent weeks but are still functioning crossings.
Rendering the Daryivskiy bridge unusable could severely complicate routes between the two halves of Russian-controlled territory west of the Dnipro.
If one of the two Russian-held bridges across the Dnipro was also taken out of action, it could cut off some Russian forces completely.
(Reporting by Max Hunder; Editing by Angus MacSwan)