In the course of its ongoing counteroffensive, Ukraine says it has carried out a successful attack on a bridge to the annexed Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, as well as making advances near Bakhmut in the east. On Saturday morning, the Chonhar Bridge, which connects Crimea with the Kherson region on the mainland, was attacked and damaged, the Department of Strategic Communications of the Ukrainian army said
The Russian crew chief of Kherson, Vladimir Saldo, had previously also reported Ukrainian missile attacks on the railway line, but claimed that all twelve projectiles had been repelled. Initially, the information could not be independently verified. The Chonhar Bridge, which is, among other things, an important supply route for the Russian army, had already been attacked and damaged by the Ukrainians in June.
Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar wrote on Telegram that her own army was advancing “gradually but surely” in the south towards the cities of Melitopol and Berdyansk. In addition, with a view to the heavy fighting on the front line in the eastern Donetsk region, she said: “Today we have advanced further on the southern flank around Bakhmut.” Russian troops had conquered Bakhmut a few months ago after extremely costly fighting. On Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also visited soldiers involved in operations to liberate occupied territories at the front near Bakhmut.
According to his own statements, Zelensky sought out “advanced positions” of the Ukrainian army near the embattled city of Bakhmut. He had come to congratulate the Ukrainian fighters and “appreciate their courage,” Zelensky wrote on Saturday in the online service Telegram. Bakhmut once had 70,000 inhabitants, but was destroyed by the longest and bloodiest battles in the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine.
The city had been taken by Russian troops in May. In mid-July, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar stated that Ukrainian troops were “gradually advancing” near Bakhmut. “There is a daily advance on the southern flank around Bakhmut. On the northern flank, we are trying to hold our positions, the enemy is attacking,” Malyar explained.
He could not disclose details of the ongoing operations of the troops, the Ukrainian leader wrote. However, he listened to a commander’s report, spoke to the soldiers and praised their “truly heroic” efforts.
The units he visited had recently contributed to the recapture of the village of Staromajorskye on the southern front, occupied by Russian troops, Zelenskyy further explained. “The guys inflict particularly sensitive blows on the Russian terrorists,” he added.
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, 17 members of special forces have been awarded the title of “Hero of Ukraine”, 13 of them posthumously, Zelenskyy said. In the vicinity of Bakhmut, he also visited the villages of Chasiv Yar, Kramatorsk and Druzhkivka.
In a separate statement, the president’s office said that Zelensky had been briefed on “intelligence networks” in the occupied territories of Ukraine, as well as further operations.
Last month, Ukraine launched a long-awaited counteroffensive, the course of which is little known. However, Kiev acknowledged difficult fighting and called on its allies to supply more long-range weapons and artillery.
Russian forces attacked and hit a command post in Dnipro, Ukraine, according to Saturday’s data. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense in Moscow, the attack was carried out with “high-precision weapons” on the eve. The intended goal had been hit. Kiev, on the other hand, had reported that a Russian missile had hit an apartment block in Dnipro.
Ukrainian officials said on Friday that nine people, including two children, had been injured in the attack on the apartment block in Dnipro. “None of them were seriously injured,” the governor of the region, Serhiy Lysak, wrote on the Telegram online service. Several other buildings were also hit, according to Ukrainian sources, including a vacant building belonging to the country’s security service.
Meanwhile, two people were killed in a Russian missile attack on the city of Zaporizhzhia in southern Ukraine, according to Ukrainian data. The dead were a man and a woman, said the secretary of the Zaporizhzhia City Council, Anatoly Kurtev, in the online service Telegram. Another woman was injured.
The blast wave from the rocket destroyed the windows of high-rise buildings on Saturday, damaging the building of an educational institution and a supermarket, Kurtev added. Photos published by Ukrainian media showed the destroyed façade of the supermarket.
According to a newspaper report, Saudi Arabia is planning an international conference on the situation in Ukraine. Among the expected high-ranking representatives of up to 30 countries are representatives of Ukraine, Western countries and emerging economies such as India and Brazil, reports the Wall Street Journal, citing diplomats. The meeting on August 5 and 6 is planned in the city of Jeddah.
