Ukraine hits key Kherson bridge with U.S. rockets - Russian-backed official

Ukrainian armed forces have struck a key bridge in Russia-controlled territory in the south of the country with U.S.-supplied HIMARS rockets, a Russian-installed regional official said on Tuesday.

Ukrainian armed forces have struck a key bridge in Russia-controlled territory in the south of the country with U.S.-supplied HIMARS rockets, a Russian-installed regional official said on Tuesday. Military analysts say the newly arrived High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), which are more accurate and have a longer range than other artillery, could be a gamechanger for Kyiv in its attempt to launch a counteroffensive in the south of the country.

In a video posted by the TASS news agency, the deputy head of the Russian-installed administration in the southern Kherson region, Kirill Stremousov, said Ukraine hit the Antonivskyi bridge in Kherson with HIMARS, damaging the road but not injuring anybody. The kilometre-long bridge is one of only two crossing points to Russian-controlled territory on the Western side of the river, including the region's main city of Kherson, home to 280,000 people before Russia invaded on Feb. 24.

Russia captured Kherson and the surrounding area with little resistance in the early days of the invasion, but Ukrainian officials have in recent weeks talked up a planned counter-offensive, backed by Western-supplied weapons, to retake the territory. Stremousov said the damaged bridge, which appeared to have four large holes in the asphalt, would be repaired.