The Ukrainian military said it also destroyed two ammunition dumps as it tries to retake the city of Kherson, which has been seized by Russia since early March. Ukraine has used long-range missile systems to severely destroy three bridges over the Dnipro River in recent weeks, cutting off the city of Kherson, a key link in Moscow’s supply lines to Crimea and eastern Ukraine. Ukraine’s southern command said: “As a result of the fire that put control over the main transport links in the occupied territories, it was found that traffic over the railway bridge crossing the Dnipro is not possible.” Ukraine also claims that more than 100 Russian soldiers and seven tanks were destroyed in fighting on Friday in the Kherson region. The UK Ministry of Defense said Russian forces “likely have set up” two pontoon bridges and a ferry system to replace damaged infrastructure to avoid being cut off. Russian advances elsewhere appear to have stalled, with Ukraine successfully repelling small-scale Russian attacks from the “very entrenched front line” near the city of Donetsk in the Donbass region, the Foreign Ministry said. Ukrainian soldiers drive a tank in eastern Ukraine. (Photo: AP The first deputy head of the Kherson regional council, Yuriy Sobolevsky, told residents to stay away from Russian ammunition dumps. “The Ukrainian army is throwing it at the Russians and this is just the beginning,” Sobolevsky wrote on the Telegram app. The governor of Kherson region, Dmytro Butri, said the Berislav region was particularly hard hit as the war raged. He wrote on Telegram: “In some villages, not a single house has been left intact, all infrastructure has been destroyed, people are living in cellars.” Officials from the Russian-appointed administration that runs the Kherson region earlier this week rejected Western and Ukrainian assessments of the situation. The latest Defense Ministry briefing also claimed that authorities installed by Russia in the occupied territories in southern Ukraine were possibly preparing to hold referendums on joining Russia later this year. He added that Russian troops “probably forced the population to reveal personal information in order to compile the voter lists.” Russia and Ukraine also blamed each other on Friday for a missile attack or explosion that appeared to kill dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war in eastern Donetsk province. Forty inmates were killed and 75 wounded at the prison in the frontline town of Olenivka held by Moscow-backed separatists, Russia’s defense ministry said. A separatist spokesman claimed 53 were killed and accused Kyiv of targeting the prison with US-made HIMARS rockets.
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Ukraine’s armed forces denied responsibility, saying Russian artillery had targeted the prison to cover up mistreatment of those held there. Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Russia had committed a war crime and called for international condemnation. Video has also emerged showing the ruins of a burnt-out building filled with metal beds, with charred bodies lying on top of them. Other bodies were also seen lined up on military stretchers or on the ground outside and shell fragments were placed on a blue metal bench. The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was seeking access to the site and offered to help evacuate the injured. Ukraine has accused Russia of atrocities and brutality against civilians since its invasion and said it has identified more than 10,000 possible war crimes. Russia denies targeting civilians.
