Ukraine's Strike on Chongar Bridge on Border With Crimea a Diversionary Tactic - Military Analyst

The Ukrainian Armed Forces attacked bridges on the administrative border between the Kherson region and Crimea on June 22, with the roadway on the Chongar Bridge damaged, but no casualties reported by local authorities.

The Ukrainian attack on the Chongar Bridge on the border with Crimea on Thursday is not part of some counteroffensive-linked strategy, it's a diversionary action undertaken by the Kiev regime, military analyst Alexey Leonkov told Sputnik.

Strikes like the one targeting the bridge are a deliberate provocation by the Kiev regime, part of an attempt to stir up a negative attitude towards the leadership of Russia's military operations, said Leonkov, who is also editor of Arsenal Otechestva (lit. Arsenal of the Fatherland) magazine.

"A concerted sabotage effort... a concerted information campaign. This is what we are seeing right now. So it's a provocation, yes," the analyst said.

"The strike came at around five in the morning, when there was no one around, only the bridge was damaged,” he said, pointing out that it was enough to follow the reaction to this provocation not only on social media networks, but in the Western media. Right after the strike on the bridge was reported by bystanders, footage from the scene appeared in the Western media, which already prepared stories.

Bomb disposal technicians are conducting an examination to accurately determine the type of ammunition used in the strike, it was reported. According to preliminary data, markings on the wreckage of the missile that hit the bridge in Chongar appeared to indicate that the strike was carried out using British-donated Storm Shadow cruise missiles. Furthermore, shell fragments bearing French markings were also found at the impact site.

Weighing in on whether it is technically possible to trace the origin of the missile used to strike the bridge, Leonkov agreed that the markings could help, however he added, "I don't think it's Storm Shadow."

"I think that, most likely, a French multiple rocket launcher, an analogue of HIMARS, was used, with ammunition with a range of 150 kilometers. Judging by the holes visible on the bridge, it is very similar to the scene on the Antonov Bridge across the Dnepr, which Ukraine fired at with HIMARS," said Alexey Leonkov, adding that he believed French complexes like the US-made HIMARS had most likely already been delivered to the Kiev regime.

According to the analyst, "if it had been a Storm Shadow missile, it has a warhead of over 450 kilograms... the entire bridge span could have collapsed... And here we see just a hole in the bridge, which was damaged, but the supports are intact."

The damage to the Chongar Bridge can easily be fixed, while the chatter linked to the attack on social media and in the Western press is a result of the Ukrainian side hyping up the incident because they have no battlefield success to brag about, the military expert stated.

Ukrainian troops launched a large-scale offensive in five sectors of the South Donetsk direction on June 4, but failed to achieve their goals, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense had previously warned that the Kiev forces would strike at Crimea, Leonkov said, adding, "we already knew that they had plans for such an attack."

“This is a terrorist Kiev regime, what else can they do, only resort to terrorist attacks, sabotage, and consider this some kind of victory… This has absolutely no effect on the strategic situation in the special military operation zone,” Alexey Leonkov concluded.