Damage to the Chonhar Bridge, connecting Russian-occupied Kherson region to Crimea, from Ukrainian drone strikes, June 2026
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Thursday’s Coverage: Kyiv Attacks Across Russian-Occupied Crimea
As Ukraine expands its strikes inside Russia and Russian-held territory, one of its top commanders has declared, “We will isolate Crimea in the near future.”
Robert “Madyar” Brovdi, the head of Ukraine’s unmanned forces, spoke to Reuters about Ukraine’s disruption of Russian logistics and supply routes, notably through strikes on bridges from Russia to southern Ukraine.
He said Russian military cargo traffic along the R-280 Novorossiya highway, connecting Russia with Crimea through the occupied cities of Mariupol, Berdiansk, and Melitopol, has fallen by 71% over the past two weeks.
“Within another month, we will have total control over the road,” Brovdi assessed. He said striking vehicles on the exposed highway is “as easy as shooting partridges in an open field.”
We will create conditions that will make it extremely difficult for any military personnel or those working in the defense industry to remain in Crimea, in the temporarily occupied territories, or use the access routes to them.
Early Thursday, bridges in Armiansk and at the entrance to Krasnoperekops in northern Crimea were struck. The Ukrainian military said the Armiansk attack destroyed 50 military vehicles, loaded with ammunition and fuel, and put the bridge out of commission: “The enemy’s important logistical route is completely paralyzed.”
Earlier this week, traffic was suspended on the Chonhar Bridge, the key link between the Russia-occupied part of the Kherson region and Crimea.
The pro-Ukraine Crimean Wind channel posted, “It appears there are no intact bridges left on the overland approaches to the peninsula.”
In its latest drone strikes inside Russia, Ukraine hit petrochemical plants more than 1,200 km (620 miles) from the border.
The drones set afire the Togliatti Kauchuk petrochemical plant in the Samara region and the Nizhnekamskneftekhim synthetic rubber plant in the Tatarstan Republic.
