Over the weekend, Kyiv claimed responsibility for attacks on two bridges – one in Russian-annexed Crimea and one near the Ukrainian port city Henichesk in the Kherson region. 

The road bridges run along critical Russian ground lines of communication, and the attacks caused the country’s forces to divert traffic along longer routes, a US-based thinktank has said. 

The strikes were part of a Ukrainian campaign to destroy Russian forces and their supplies to battle areas to set conditions “for future decisive counteroffensive operations”, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said. 

A prominent Wagner-affiliated Russian milblogger argued that the attacks showed Ukrainian forces are “methodically trying to cut off the Russian grouping in southern Ukraine and disrupt its logistics”, it added. 

Kyiv used similar tactics in the Kherson counterofffensive last year, which led to its troops liberating swathes of territory in November. 

“The milblogger noted that Russian defences on west (right) bank Kherson Oblast broke down in a matter of days following months of Ukrainian strikes on Russian logistics and expressed concern that the situation could repeat itself,” the ISW said. 

The strikes will likely disrupt the transport of Russian personnel. material and equipment from Crimea to “critical defensive operations” in Zaporizhzhia for some “undetermined time”, it said.