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Did Ukraine's strikes target Crimea's supply links?
Summary
A look back at three reported attacks between 4 and 6 August 2023 on Russian vessels and a bridge connecting occupied Kherson Oblast with Crimea.
Were Ukraine's attacks in early August 2023 aimed at the routes and vessels linking Russian forces to Crimea? On 6 August 2023, an Armed Forces of Ukraine missile damaged a bridge over the Chonhar Strait, which connects Russian-occupied Kherson Oblast and Crimea. The strike came during the 2023 Ukrainian counteroffensive.
A run of strikes over three days
The bridge attack followed two reported naval incidents. On 4 August 2023, the Russian landing ship Olenegorsky Gornyak was damaged by a Ukrainian naval drone attack at the naval base at the Port of Novorossiysk, in Krasnodar Krai. On 5 August 2023, Ukraine said it had damaged the Russian tanker Sig in a naval drone attack in the Black Sea near the Crimean Bridge.
What the pattern shows
Taken together, the three incidents involved different targets and different weapons: a naval drone strike on a warship in a Russian port, a naval drone strike on a tanker near the Crimean Bridge, and a missile strike on a bridge between occupied Kherson Oblast and Crimea. The locations stretched from Krasnodar Krai to the Black Sea and the Chonhar Strait.
The common thread was that each reported attack hit a vessel or a crossing in or near the waters and land links around Crimea. The Novorossiysk strike was also reported as part of attacks on western Russia, while the bridge strike was recorded within the counteroffensive. Ukraine itself said it had damaged the Sig. The reports gave the damage as just that, damage, and not destruction of any of the targets.
