Ukraine hits key bridge in Russia-held south

KYIV, July 20 (AP/BBC): Ukrainian forces have struck and seriously damaged a bridge that is key for supplying Russian troops in southern Ukraine, a regional official said Wednesday.
Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the Moscow-backed temporary administration for the Russia-controlled southern Kherson region, said the Ukrainian military struck the bridge across the Dnipro River with missiles Wednesday, scoring 11 hits.
He said in remarks carried by the Interfax news agency that the bridge sustained serious damage but it wasn't closed for traffic.
"The bridge is in poor condition now," Stremousov said, according to Interfax. "The bridge wasn't closed, traffic across it is still continuing, but the situation is serious."
Stremousov said that the Ukrainian forces used the U.S.-supplied HIMARS multiple rocket launchers to strike the bridge, adding that some of them were intercepted by Russian air defenses.
Wednesday's shelling of the Antonivskyi Bridge was the second in as many days. It was slightly damaged by Ukrainian shelling a day earlier, according to the Moscow-backed authorities in Kherson.
Early in the war, Russian troops quickly overran the Kherson region just north of the Crimean Peninsula that Russia annexed in 2014. They have faced Ukrainian counterattacks, but have largely held their ground.
The 1.4-kilometer (0.9-mile) bridge is the main one across the Dnieper River, and if it's made unusable it would be hard for the Russian military to keep supplying its forces in the region amid repeated Ukrainian attacks.
The British Defense Ministry said Wednesday that the bridge was likely still usable after the Ukrainian strikes, but it is a "key vulnerability for Russian Forces."
"It is one of only two road crossing points over the Dnieper by which Russia can supply or withdraw its forces in the territory it has occupied west of the river," it added. "Control of Dnieper crossings is likely to become a key factor in the outcome of fighting in the region."
The Ukrainian attacks on the bridge in Kherson come as the bulk of the Russian forces are stuck in the fighting in Ukraine's eastern industrial heartland of Donbas where they have made slow gains facing fierce Ukrainian resistance.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu inspected the troops in the east, ordering them to act more aggressively to down Ukrainian drones and prevent Ukraine's army from shelling the areas that have been taken by Russian forces.
Russia's ground advance has slowed, in part because Ukraine is using more effective U.S. weapons and in part because of what Russian President Vladimir Putin has called an "operational pause." Russia has been focusing more on aerial bombardment using long-range missiles.
Ukrainian officials voiced hope that Kyiv could drain the Russian military resources in the fight for Donbas and then launch a counteroffensive to reclaim control of the Kherson region and parts of the Zaporizhzhia region that the Russians seized early in the war.
With indications that Ukraine is planning counterattacks to retake occupied areas, the Russian military in recent weeks has targeted the Black Sea port of Odesa and parts of southern Ukraine where its troops captured cities earlier in the war.
Kherson - site of a major ship-building industry at the confluence of the Dnieper River and the Black Sea near Russian-annexed Crimea - is one of several areas a U.S. government spokesman said Russia is trying to annex.
Russia plans to annex
Ukrainian land: US
Russia plans to annex more Ukrainian territory using a similar "playbook" to its takeover of Crimea, the US says.
Citing US intelligence, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Russia is already laying the groundwork for annexation.
Occupied regions of Ukraine could hold "sham" referenda on joining Russia as soon as September, he said.
Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 after a referendum which was widely viewed as illegitimate.
"We want to make it plain to the American people," Mr Kirby told reporters. "Nobody is fooled by it. [Russian President Vladimir Putin] is dusting off the playbook from 2014."
He accused Russia of installing illegitimate pro-Russian officials to run occupied regions of Ukraine, with the aim of organising referenda on becoming part of Russia.
The results of the votes would be used by Russia "to try to claim annexation of sovereign Ukrainian territory", Mr Kirby said.
Russia has already installed its own regional and local officials in the parts of Ukraine it has occupied.
Crimea was annexed by Russia in 2014 after a hastily-organised referendum - viewed as illegal by the international community, in which voters chose to join Russia.
Many supporters of Kyiv boycotted the vote and the campaign was neither free nor fair.
Similar votes held in other parts of Ukraine would almost certainly see a similar situation, with any opposition to joining Russia largely supressed.
Mr Kirby said he was "exposing" the Russian plans "so the world knows that any purported annexation is premeditated, illegal and illegitimate", and promised there would be a quick response from the US and its allies.
The areas targeted for annexation include Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk, he said.