By Reuters

July 20, 2022, at 2:33 a.m.

(Changes dateline to reflect origin of story)

LONDON (Reuters) – Ukrainian shelling badly damaged the crucial Antonivskyi bridge in the Russia-controlled Kherson region of southern Ukraine, Moscow-installed regional authorities said on Wednesday.

The bridge – one of only two crossing points for Russian forces to territory they have occupied on the western bank of the vast Dnipro river in southern Ukraine – has been a key target for Ukrainian forces in recent days, with Kyiv using high-precision U.S.-supplied rockets to try to destroy it.

The Russian-backed head of the Kherson region, Volodymyr Saldo, closed the bridge to cargo traffic on Wednesday morning in what he called a “temporary restriction” to allow repair works.

Passenger cars were still able to use the bridge, which is more than a kilometre long, Saldo said in an “urgent appeal” published on social media.