The occupiers will not be sweet: ISW spoke about the consequences of strikes on bridges in the south
Date: 2023-08-07 Author: Кирило Загоруйко Categories: WAR
On August 6, Ukrainian forces attacked two key road bridges along the territories that connect occupied Crimea and occupied Kherson region. This forced Russian forces to divert vehicle traffic from shorter eastern routes to longer western routes, analysts at the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) emphasize.
“Ukrainian strikes on bridges along critical Russian land lines are part of Ukraine’s blockade campaign aimed at setting the stage for future decisive counter-offensives. ... They are likely to interrupt the transport of Russian personnel, materiel and equipment from occupied Crimea to critical Russian defensive operations in the west of the Zaporozhye region and on the border of the Zaporozhye and Donetsk regions for some indefinite time," the report says.
The ISW suggests that the extent of the damage to the Genichesk Strait bridge will likely force Russian forces to divert military transport from the Arabat Spit to longer western routes between occupied Crimea and occupied Kherson region.
"Most if not all Russian road transport between Crimea and Kherson Oblast will run along or very close to one 20 km section of the M-17 highway between Ishun and Armyansk. This is the main bottleneck in Russian terrestrial communication lines. This will likely to significant disruptions in logistics, delays and traffic jams,” analysts say.
ISW emphasizes that Ukrainian forces are also stepping up efforts to intercept Russian naval targets involved in Russian logistics in the Black Sea.
"Ukrainian officials have consistently declared their commitment to a campaign of deliberate blocking of Russian military targets in order to degrade Russia's logistics and defense capabilities in order to create favorable conditions for Ukraine's future counter-offensive activities," analysts recall.
