What is Known About Ukraine Attack on Chongar Bridge on Border With Crimea

On Tuesday, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu warned that the Kiev regime was intending to carry out strikes on Crimea with Western-supplied HIMARS and Storm Shadow cruise missiles, adding that use of these weapons outside the zone of the special military operation would signal "full involvement of the US and UK in the conflict."

The Ukrainian Armed Forces "committed barbaric shelling of civilian objects - bridges on the administrative border between the Kherson Region and Crimea near Chongar," Acting Kherson Governor Vladimir Saldo said on Telegram early on Thursday. He added that the Kiev regime hoped to sow panic among residents of the Kherson region, but that they would not succeed.

Here is what we know so far about the Ukrainian attack on the Chongar Bridge.

Attack on Civilian Objects

The Ukrainian Armed Forces attacked bridges near Chongar on the administrative border between the Kherson region and Crimea in the eastern part of the isthmus of Perekop. Bomb disposal technicians are conducting an examination to accurately determine the type of ammunition used in the strike. Investigators are also at the scene.

According to preliminary data, markings on the wreckage of the missile that hit the bridge in Chongar confirm that the strike was carried out using British-donated Storm Shadow cruise missiles, Russian media reported. Furthermore, shell fragments bearing French markings were also found at the impact site.

Consequences of Attack

As the roadway on the bridge was damaged, traffic across the Chongar Bridge was suspended. According to preliminary information, there were no casualties in the Ukrainian attack.

Oleg Kryuchkov, Crimean head Sergey Aksenov's adviser on information policy, said the shelling of the bridge would not be able to seriously disrupt the logistics of the land transport corridor between the Kherson Region and Crimea. Transport communication between the Kherson region and the Crimea continues to operate, as the Chongar Bridge is only one of three routes to the peninsula. It offers passage from the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions along the bridge in the vicinity of the northern Crimean city of Dzhankoi. Two other checkpoints - Perekop and Armyansk - are located in the Armyansk region.

"The failure of one of them cannot drastically disrupt the transport logistics of the land transport corridor," Oleg Kryuchkov posted on Telegram.

All motor transport was redirected to a reserve route following the Ukrainian attack.

Crimean authorities have issued recommendations to take the route through Armyansk to all those travelling to the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. There are practically no queues at the checkpoint in Armyansk, authorities have said, with inspection time typically taking 20-30 minutes.

The incident had no impact on the regular movement of transport along the Crimean Bridge, with the ferry crossing also fully operational, according to Crimea’s Transport Minister Nikolay Lukashenko.

The Ukrainian shelling of the bridge comes as last week, Sergey Aksenov said that nine drones had been detected over Crimea. Six of them were shot down and three were grounded using electronic warfare. Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu warned at a meeting of the collegium of the Ministry of Defense on Tuesday that Ukraine was gearing up to strike Crimea and other territories.

"According to our information, the leadership of the Armed Forces of Ukraine plans to strike at the territory of Russia, including Crimea, with HIMARS and Storm Shadow missiles," Shoigu said, adding that use of UK Storm Shadow and American-donated HIMARS missiles outside the zone of Russia's special operation would mean the "full involvement of the United States and the United Kingdom in the conflict." Shoigu remarked that such attacks by Kiev would entail immediate strikes on decision-making centers in Ukraine.

Washington and London originally agreed to give Kiev longer-range missiles under the pretext that Kiev had promised not to attack Russian soil with them. However, the US and its allies regard Crimea as part of Ukraine, dismissing the 2014 declaration of independence and subsequent referendum on rejoining the Russian Federation as illegitimate.

The Russian defense minister said that Ukrainian troops have launched a total of 263 attacks on the positions of the Russian Armed Forces in the Donetsk, South Donetsk, and Zaporozhye directions since June 4, when the much-hyped "counteroffensive" by Ukrainian forces is believed to have started. All such attacks have been successfully repelled, Shoigu added.