Damage to the Chonhar Bridge increases logistics for the russian army by 150 km – BBC

On the night of June 22, the Armed Forces of Ukraine struck a bridge over the Chonhar Strait in the Sea of Azov, which connects the peninsula with Melitopol. 

In particular, the occupying authorities of Crimea and the occupied part of the Kherson Oblast announced this.

BBC correspondent Illia Abyshev explains the role this bridge plays in supplying russian troops and what the consequences for them may be.

The Chonhar Bridge is just one of the routes supplying russian troops in the south of Ukraine. 

At first glance, the potential loss of this route is not critical for russian groups – cargo from Crimea can go north via the Perekop Isthmus or by rail through the same Chonhar. There is also a land corridor from Rostov Oblast through the south of Donbass, and a maritime one through the port of Berdyansk.

However, in the context of intensified ground combat operations, when the need for weapon and ammunition supplies to the front line sharply increases, any logistical disruption threatens serious complications.

For instance, the route from Dzhankoi to Melitopol, if detoured via Armiansk, extends by 150 km, i.e., approximately three times as long.

Railway delivery is not always the optimal solution, as the same ammunition still needs to be reloaded. The land corridor from Taganrog may be insufficient to supply the 150-thousand-strong russian army in the south of Ukraine.

The BBC also emphasises two more factors.

Firstly, other supply routes also have vulnerable points. For example, the railway branch from Crimea to Melitopol stretches along a dam through the Syvash Bay, and the road through Armiansk also passes over bridges in places.

Secondly, military experts, as before, do not rule out the possibility of the Ukrainian army crossing the Dnieper in Kherson Oblast, and through shelling the Kakhovka Reservoir – also in Zaporizhia. In such a situation, the russian troops on the left bank will need even more military cargoes, and any delay in their delivery will threaten big troubles, the BBC correspondent notes.

Background. In the morning, the russians reported a Ukrainian attack on the bridge in Chonhar, which connected Kherson Oblast with Crimea.