Kiev, Jul. 30, (dpa/GNA) – Ukraine said it successfully attacked a land bridge to Crimea which was annexed by Russia – and has also made advances near Bakhmut, a town in the embattled east.
On Saturday morning, the Chonhar Bridge, which connects Crimea with the mainland region of Kherson, was attacked and damaged, the Ukrainian army’s strategic communications department said.
The Russian occupation commander of Kherson, Vladimir Saldo, previously also reported Ukrainian missile attacks on the railway line, but claimed that all 12 projectiles had been repelled. The information could not initially be independently verified.
The Chonhar Bridge, a key supply route for the Russian army, had already been attacked and damaged by the Ukrainian forces in June.
Meanwhile on the mainland, a Russian missile attack on the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhya killed at least two people, according to official reports.
A man and a woman were killed in the blast, secretary of the city council, Anatoly Kuryev, said on Saturday. Another woman was injured. The missile destroyed the windows of a high-rise building, an educational institution and a supermarket.
In the north-eastern region of Sumy, the authorities also reported a Russian missile attack, which is also believed to have impacted an educational institution.
Information on damage or possible victims was not initially available.
Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said the Ukrainian army was advancing “gradually but surely” in the south towards the cities of Melitopol and Berdyansk, on Telegram.
Also, referring to the heavy fighting on the front in the eastern Donetsk region, she said, “Today we advanced further on the southern flank around Bakhmut.”
Russian troops captured Bakhmut a few months ago after extensive fighting with high losses and Ukraine is now seeking to claw back occupied land in a counteroffensive.
On Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he has visited the front line near Bakhmut on the occasion of Special Operations Forces Day. He thanked the soldiers there for their commitment, Zelensky said on Telegram.
Russian troops conquered Bakhmut a few months ago after extended fighting. Since then, they have occupied the city, which had about 70,000 inhabitants before the full-scale Russian war began, in February 2022.
In the course of Ukraine’s counteroffensive, Kiev’s army now wants to liberate occupied areas. Most recently, it reported minor successes, especially in the south-east of its country.
Later, Russian President Vladimir Putin denied Ukraine had made progress.
“No, there are no major changes,” Putin told journalists in St Petersburg on Saturday evening. “Of course, the enemy has been stopped and pushed back everywhere.”
Meanwhile, the British Defence Ministry reported that fighting in southern Ukraine increased in two sectors over the past 48 hours.
“South of Orikhiv, fighting is focused near the village of Robotyne, in the area of responsibility for Russia’s 58th Combined Arms Army,” the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in London said in its daily update on Twitter on Saturday.
Eighty kilometres to the east, Ukrainian forces had managed to defeat Russian airborne troops and retake the village of Staromaiorske, it said.
The Ukrainians also mounted offensive operations further north in the forest of Serebryansk, west of Kreminna. However, little progress has been made there, the update continued.
The British ministry has been publishing daily information on the course of the war since the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022. Moscow accuses London of disinformation.
GNA