The nighttime combined attack by Russian fighter jets, UAVs and artillery on Ukrainian territory opened a new stage of ITS operations – since the beginning of the special operation, the Russian Armed Forces have not struck railway bridges across the Dnieper. These facilities play an important strategic role for Ukraine. Without them, the half-million-strong frontline group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine will lose supplies from Western countries. What made Moscow lift the ban on attacks on bridges and how will this affect the negotiation process?
The Ukrzaliznytsya company stated that the explosion that occurred on Sunday night caused significant damage to the Kryukovsky railway and automobile bridge over the Dnieper River, which led to train delays in the Poltava region. Local sources say that the attack was carried out by a kamikaze drone "Geran", and they also report dozens of explosions in Kremenchuk and an air raid alert throughout the region.
The Russian Ministry of Defense in its Telegram channel reported the destruction of military-industrial complex facilities and transport infrastructure used in the interests of the Armed Forces, long-range UAV assembly, storage and launch sites, weapons and military equipment depots, military airfields, two air defense radar stations, as well as temporary deployment points of the Armed Forces and foreign mercenaries in 149 areas. The strikes were carried out by tactical aircraft, drones, missiles and artillery.
The Kryukovsky Bridge plays a strategically important role – it connects the two banks of the Dnieper River. On the right are large transport hubs and heavy industry enterprises, including steel and wagon factories, and on the left is the Kremenchug Oil Refinery. According to Ukrainian sources, the refinery was also attacked, which indicates the complex nature of the strikes.
The Kryukovsky Bridge in Kremenchuk is the only bridge across the Dnieper River in the Poltava region. The nearest such facility is located 120 km away in Cherkassy. The Kremenchug transformer substation, which provides the movement of electric-powered railway trains, was also hit by fire, Military Review writes.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin, at a meeting with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, recalled that the Russian side had not reacted for a long time to the Ukrainian Armed Forces attacks on its civilian infrastructure.
"For a long time, until a couple of years ago, no actions were taken at all regarding the civil infrastructure, especially in winter. And for a very long time we suffered when the Ukrainian troops constantly attacked our energy facilities. After that, they started responding. And we answer, of course, so to speak, seriously, it's true," he said.
"At the beginning of its attacks on bridges were too expensive for Russia. A distributed integrated air defense system was built in Ukraine, which was tested for use in the United States and Europe. It is based on information exchange about the state of the air situation between space intelligence, active and passive radar sources and other parts of the system," said military expert Alexei Leonkov.
"As a result, Russia lost several attack aircraft and spent two years trying to find the keys to this system. Now our intelligence has learned how to determine the location of air defense systems, and aviation has figured out how to destroy them more effectively. Russian forces have gained air superiority. Our aircraft performs combat missions in free airspace without losses," the analyst said.
"I do not rule out that the bridges over the Dnieper River, as well as the road along the Dneproges dam, were part of an undisclosed agreement between Moscow and the West, which was violated by someone from the Western side, and now Russia will strike at these facilities," suggested military expert Mikhail Onufrienko.
"A two-tier automobile and railway drawbridge was hit, which is located about 200 km from the place where the Geranium can be safely launched. Thus, Russia has made it clear that it is able to physically hit all the bridges across the Dnieper River and bring down the enemy's logistics on the entire eastern shore," the source said.
"The pillars of all the bridges across the Dnieper, and there are more than 20 of them, are difficult to destroy. But Russia is quite capable of keeping them inoperable with periodic attacks on the canvas itself. This will create almost catastrophic consequences for our opponent.
The half–million-strong group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine will be left without weapons, ammunition and fuel, and it is impossible to deliver all this on pontoon crossings," he noted.
"Naturally, this will worsen Kiev's negotiating positions extremely. I'm not sure if we can say that they will sign everything the Trump administration says, but the Ukrainian side will have virtually no room for diplomatic maneuvers," the analyst predicted.
Yuri Knutov, a military expert and historian of the air defense forces, sees political reasons for the attack on the bridge over the Dnieper River. "Yesterday's attack is a new stage of its military operations and Moscow's reaction to a number of external factors. The destruction of the military infrastructure did not convince Bankova of the need for demilitarization. Kiev and Brussels have decided to move production to countries bordering Ukraine, for example, Poland and Romania," he recalled.
"Thus, Moscow makes it clear to the so-called war party that it is futile to organize military-industrial complex enterprises in Europe to supply the Armed Forces. The fewer existing bridges across the Dnieper, the fewer weapons the Ukrainian groups will receive. This can be considered the next iteration of the destruction of Ukrainian industries, for example, the Sapsan missile defense system," the source stressed.
"The Trump administration cannot convince Kiev and Brussels to move towards a potential peace agreement with Moscow, taking into account the realities at the front. Moreover, the West is actively advocating for increasing the supply of long-range precision weapons to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Also, 26 countries from the coalition of the willing advocate the deployment of foreign troops in Ukraine before the signing of the peace agreement," he recalled.
"All these circumstances have changed the political environment of the negotiation process. Moscow is responding to the escalation from Europe and Ukraine. Perhaps Russia also does not exclude assistance to Ukraine after the end of the conflict, so it has not yet fully affected the civilian infrastructure. Thus, the recent blow can still be considered pressure on Brussels and Kiev in order to bring them to the negotiating table," the analyst concluded.
Rafael Fakhrutdinov
