Russian sources report strikes on key bridge between Crimea and mainland Ukraine.
Russian-installed proxy officials in occupied Ukraine have claimed that a Ukrainian strike on the night of June 22 damaged the Chonhar Bridge connecting Crimea with Ukraine's mainland. Russian proxy in Crimea Sergey Aksyonov and counterpart in Kherson Oblast Volodymyr Saldo both reported attacks on several bridges in the area, including on the Chonhar Bridge itself. According to Saldo, the surface of the bridge was damaged.
He claims that judging by preliminary assessments, the U.K. long-range Storm Shadow missile was used for the attack. The traffic over the bridge has been reportedly blocked and cars are being rerouted. The Chonhar Bridge is one of the main connections between occupied Crimea and Kherson Oblast.
In total, there are three key vehicular bridges and two railway ones connecting the peninsula with the mainland. Ukrainian media note[1] that the bridge serves as an important route for Russian military personnel and supplies moving to southern Ukraine. It represents the shortest path from the peninsula to occupied Melitopol and further to the southern front.
The damage on the alleged photos, with holes punched in the bridge's surface revealing twisted iron rebar underneath, bare resemblance to Ukrainian strikes on the Antonivsky Bridge accross the Dnipro river in the lead-up to the liberation of Kherson
UK Defense Ministry: Russia fortifying approaches to Crimea Russia has been building up rear defensive lines in southern Ukraine over the past weeks, particularly on the approaches to occupied Crimea, the U.K. Defense Ministry wrote on June 21.
[2] 
Martin Fornusek
News Editor
Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent.
He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press. He also volunteers as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukrainer. Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies.