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Ukraine Strikes Key Bridge In Russian-Occupied Territory As Moscow Struggles To Achieve 'Minimal Gains'

By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service July 20, 2022

The Ukrainian military used modern Western-made artillery to strike and seriously damage a strategic bridge in Moscow-occupied southern Ukraine as Russia's top diplomat warned that Moscow's "geographical" objectives in the war had changed and now extend beyond the previously stated goal of occupying the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Kirill Stremousov, the Moscow-appointed deputy head of the military-civilian administration of the region, told TASS on July 20 that about nine missiles fired from U.S.-made HIMARS systems hit the Antonivskiy bridge in Kherson, a key link for supplying Russian troops in southern Ukraine.

"The bridge is very badly damaged. It is reparable but will require time. We will probably have to halt traffic," Stremousov said, adding that there were no casualties.

The information could not be independently confirmed.

The 1.4-kilometer-long bridge is the main one across the Dnieper and if it's rendered unusable it would be hard for the Russian military to keep supplying its forces in the region. The strike, which could not be independently confirmed, was the second in as many days.

British military intelligence said in its daily bulletin on July 20 that the bridge remained "a key vulnerability" for Moscow's forces.

In the eastern region of Donbas, British intelligence said Ukrainian defenders continued to hold the line against superior Russian forces who only make "minimal gains."

The bulletin said that control of Dnieper River crossings was likely to become a key factor in the outcome of fighting in the Russian-controlled areas west of the Dnieper, which include the key city of Kherson, which is "politically and symbolically important for Russia."

Apparently unable to achieve substantial gains on the battlefield, Russian forces have resorted to pummeling cities and settlements elsewhere across Ukraine with missile strikes and artillery barrages.

Kyiv has accused Russian forces of having intensified long-distance strikes on targets far from the front, killing large numbers of civilians. Moscow says it is hitting military targets.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the RIA Novosti news agency and state-controlled RT television in a joint interview that the Kremlin had expanded the scope of what it calls its "special military operation" to include the Kherson and Zaporizhzhya regions and other territories because geographical realities had changed since Russian and Ukrainian negotiators held peace talks in Turkey in late March that failed to produce any breakthrough.

"Now the geography is different, it's far from being just the Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics," Lavrov said, using the name separatists use for the Moscow-backed, unrecognized breakaway entities in eastern Ukraine, "It's also the Kherson and Zaporizhzhya regions and a number of other territories."

He added that, if the West kept sending Ukraine modern long-range artillery weapons such as the HIMARS missile systems, "that means the geographical tasks will extend still further from the current line."

Lavrov's statement came a day after the White House said Russia is laying the groundwork for the annexation of more Ukrainian territory and is installing illegitimate proxy leaders in areas of the country under its control.

John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council, told a White House news briefing on July 19 that the Russians plan to organize "sham referenda" in the areas it has seized, possibly as early as September, and are preparing to establish the ruble as the default currency and force residents to apply for citizenship.

The areas targeted for annexation include Kherson, Zaporizhzhya, and all of Donetsk and Luhansk.

He said he was "exposing" the Russian plans "so the world knows that any purported annexation is premeditated, illegal, and illegitimate."

Kirby said the United States would respond to Russia's actions "swiftly and severely and in lockstep with our allies and partners." The response will include be sanctions on Russian-installed "puppets and proxies," he said.

Kirby also said that in the next few days the United States will announce a new weapons package for Ukraine. The aid is expected to include more HIMARS systems.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told Ukrainians in his regular video address late on July 19 that Kyiv is establishing a parliamentary commission to regulate the use of the weapons received from the West.

Zelenskiy appeared to be responding to news reports that some Western officials were concerned that Western weaponry might end up being sold on the black market or smuggled out of the country.

Some U.S. lawmakers in Washington have criticized the Pentagon for not adequately monitoring U.S-supplied weaponry to Ukraine.

'I want to emphasize: there is no ground for any claims to our state in this regard," he said.

"But to eliminate all fabrications being made by Russian propagandists and those who help them in Ukraine or elsewhere, this additional parliamentary apparatus will be established," he added.

With reporting by AFP, Reuters, BBC, CNN, and AP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-western-weapons-change- balance/31949775.html

Copyright (c) 2022. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.