Both bridges connecting the Crimea to the Chonhar peninsula and hence the mainland of Ukraine, have suffered a pinpoint strike this morning, on June 22. Photos and videos from the site indicate both the new main bridge and the older reserve bridge were damaged; the traffic over them has been stopped.
Of course, after the great effort by the Armed Forces of Ukraine to basically "saw through" the Antonivskyi Bridge near Kherson spending weeks and dozens of HIMARS missiles last year, this time it took much less ammunition to achieve the same effect and inflict more damage to the structure.
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Here we should pay attention not only to the road pierced through but also to the damaged abutment of the main bridge that until recently provided a crossing over the Chonhar Strait.
Surely, it's too hasty to make any conclusions about the structure's general condition but the exposed metal framework of the abutment is quite indicative of the fact that the strike led to a massive effect.
According to the remnants shown by the russian media, the bridges were struck with Storm Shadow air-launched cruise missiles.
For a reminder, Storm Shadow carries a 450-kg tandem warhead which consists of two separate charges, first a precursor charge breaches the obstacle, then the high-explosive one follows into the breach.
Important to note, these bridges are not the only ones that connect the occupied Crimea to the mainland, not to mention the Perekop isthmus which is a major on-land transport route. Moreover, the previous experience of disabling the Antonivskyi and the Crimea bridges proves that destruction of such key objects requires a systematic approach. Nonetheless, even a temporary halt of any movement across the Chonhar Strait is significant.
The reason is that the E105 highway passes through these bridges which leads to Melitopol. The only detour is through the mentioned Perekop isthmus. But then the russians would need to move by the Chaplynka–Novooleksiivka route, it is a narrow rural road that cannot support intense traffic and adds another 150 km of a roundabout route to take.
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