Ukraine bombs key bridge in Kherson

KYIV, Aug 08 (AFP): Ukrainian forces bombed a strategic bridge over the Dnipro river overnight in the Russian-held city of Kherson, the army announced Monday.
"What a night for the occupiers in the Kherson region. Strikes in the area of the Antonovskiy bridge," regional deputy Sergei Khlan wrote on Facebook.
Southern army command spokeswoman Natalia Gumeniuk confirmed the attack.
"The firing system we have developed in recent days shows results," she said.
"The impact (of the strike) has been considerable for both the Antonovskiy and Kakhovskiy bridges," she told Ukrainian television. The Antonovskiy bridge is the main land supply link between the city and the south bank of the Dnipro.
It was partly destroyed on July 27, forcing the Russian invaders to rethink supply lines and possibly resort to using pontoons to cross the water.
Pro-Russian authorities also confirmed an attack.
"There was one strike, a construction booth and a cement mixer caught fire. There is damage to the bridge floor, which means we will continue restoring it," deputy head of the Russian-led regional administration, Kirill Stremusov, told RIA Novosti news agency.
"There is no critical damage, the structural elements of the transport crossing were not damaged," he added.
Kherson, capital of the region bearing the same name, lies just a few kilometres from the frontline.
Ukrainian forces in recent weeks have been clawing back territory in the Kherson region, which borders the Crimea peninsula that Russia annexed in 2014.
Russian forces seized Kherson on March 3, the first major city to fall to Moscow since the start of the invasion on February 24. Deploying Western-supplied long-range artillery Kyiv's forces have pushed closer to Kherson city, which had a pre-war population of under 300,000 people.
The Russian occupiers are planning to hold a referendum seeking support to annex the Kherson region, a major agricultural area for Ukraine, and the neighbouring Zaporizhzhia region.
Kremlin accuses Kyiv of
nuclear plant shelling
The Kremlin on Monday accused Ukrainian forces of firing on the Zaporizhzhia atomic power plant, warning against potential "catastrophic consequences" for Europe.
"The shelling of the territory of the nuclear plant by the Ukrainian armed forces is a potentially extremely dangerous activity... fraught with catastrophic consequences for a vast area, including the territory of Europe," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
He called on Ukraine's allies "to use their influence to prevent the continuation of such shelling".
Moscow and Kyiv have blamed each other for strikes on the atomic power plant, where recent fighting sparked a UN warning of a potential nuclear disaster.
Zaporizhzhia-Europe's largest atomic power complex that was occupied by Russia early in its offensive-has in recent days been the scene of military strikes that have damaged several structures, forcing the shutdown of a reactor.