A key bridge connecting Russian-occupied Crimea with the occupied part of Ukraine's southern region of Kherson was damaged after being hit by what a Moscow-appointed official said were Storm Shadow missiles fired by Ukrainian forces.
Volodymyr Saldo, the Russian-installed chief of Kherson, said on his Telegram channel that the strike early on June 22 was carried out on the bridge in the Chonhar region, also known as "the gate to Crimea," which represents the shortest route from the Crimean Peninsula to the front line in southern Ukraine, making it a key link in Russia's supply line.
The attack came as Russian forces struck civilian and infrastructure targets with a fresh wave of missiles and drones overnight.
Saldo said the road on the bridge was damaged but no one was injured, while alternative transport routes had been opened. Separately, Sergei Aksyonov, the Moscow-installed head of Crimea, said specialized services were assessing the damage caused to the bridges.
Saldo released video of himself on the road leading to the bridge showing craters in the asphalt.
"Another meaningless act perpetrated by the Kyiv regime on orders from London. It solves nothing as far as the special military operation is concerned," he said, vowing to repair the bridge and restore traffic.
The spokesman of Ukraine's Main Intelligence Directorate, Andriy Yusov, referring to the attack on the bridge, told Ukrainian television, "The work [to push Russia out of Crimea] is under way and it will continue," while the Ukrainian deputy governor of Kherson, Yuriy Sobolevskiy, said on social media that the strike was "a blow to the military logistics of the occupiers" and had a "psychological impact."
Britain last month announced that it was donating Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine.
In October last year, a fire broke out after an explosion hit a major bridge linking Crimea to the Russian mainland over the Kerch Strait, drastically reducing the traffic, in what Russia said was a Ukrainian attack.
Russia illegally annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. Ukraine has vowed to retake Crimea from Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, speaking on June 22 in London, predicted results from the counteroffensive, but added that "Ukraine values the lives of its soldiers, so it does not plan to thoughtlessly lead them under fire," according to Ukrinform.
"We work according to NATO standards," Shmyhal said, speaking at the Ukraine Recovery Conference. "We protect each of our soldiers and take steps forward. It will take time, but we intend to move forward and we are moving forward with a counterattack. We all have to be patient and see the results."
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, also speaking at the conference, said Ukraine will conduct as many counteroffensives as are necessary for the complete de-occupation of the internationally recognized territory of Ukraine.
"I constantly emphasize this in communication with partners: We should not look at this counteroffensive as the last and decisive one. There will be so many counterattacks; so much is needed to expel Russia from our territory," Kuleba said in an interview with Ukrainian public broadcasting.
On the eastern front, Ukrainian forces contained Russian forces on June 22, said Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar on Telegram.
Ukrainian forces on the southern front, where several villages were retaken last week, were "gradually moving forward," she added. "We have had partial success. We are pushing back the enemy and leveling the front line."
Meanwhile, Russian forces struck civilian and infrastructure targets with a fresh wave of missiles and drones overnight, the Ukrainian military said in its early morning update on June 22, adding that fierce battles were under way in the eastern region of Donetsk, where Russia was intensifying its attacks.
The General Staff reported that Ukrainian air defenses shot down all six Iranian-made drones but said a yet unspecified number of civilians were killed and wounded, without giving further details.
Russia also launched 44 missiles, including Kinzhal (Dagger) hypersonic missiles, and 47 rocket salvoes at Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, the military said.
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The head of a local people's council under Odesa's regional military administration, Serhiy Bratchuk, said three drones were shot down in southern Ukraine, but other drones caused what appeared to be minor damage in Odesa region.
Pavlo Kyrylenko, the head of Donetsk region, said one civilian was killed by Russian shelling and six others were wounded in Chasiv Yar near Horlivka.
Authorities in the Kryviy Rih, Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson, and Kharkiv regions also reported being shelled overnight. In Kharkiv, one person was wounded, said regional Governor Oleh Synehubov.
Since the start of last month, Russia has intensified its strikes across Ukraine, causing many civilian casualties and further damaging the country's infrastructure.
On the battlefield, the General Staff said that "heavy fighting" was under way in Donetsk, where Ukrainian defenders repelled 40 Russian assaults in Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiyivka, and Maryinka.
Andriy Kovalev, a spokesman for the General Staff, said in a post on Ukraine's Military Media Center's Telegram channel that Ukrainian forces had "partial success" in the Ryvnopyl-Staromayorske area in the south of Donetsk region, where they are consolidating the front lines.
"Particularly heavy fighting continues in the Lyman sector...in Donetsk region," Kovalev said.
Nighttime Russian Missile Attack On Ukraine's Donetsk Injures Civilians
Earlier on June 22, the military said that in the southern regions of Zaporizhzhya and Kherson, Ukrainian forces continued offensive operations, without giving details.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy admitted in an interview with the BBC that the progress of the counteroffensive was "slower than desired," but that Kyiv would not be pressured into speeding it up.
"Some people believe this is a Hollywood movie and expect results now. It's not," he said. "What's at stake is people's lives."
Zelenskiy said on June 22 that Ukrainian intelligence services believe Russia is plotting an incident to release radiation from the Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant, Europe's largest.
"Intelligence has received information that Russia is considering the scenario of a terrorist act at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant -- a terrorist act with a release of radiation," he said, adding that Kyiv was sharing intelligence on the plot with its foreign partners. "They have prepared everything for this."
The Kremlin rejected the accusation, calling it "another lie."