Ukraine Strikes Bridge Used for Russian Supplies in Occupied South

 A picture taken on July 21, 2022 shows craters on Kherson's Antonovsky bridge across the Dnipro river caused by a Ukrainian rocket strike, amid the ongoing Russian military action in Ukraine. (AFP)
A picture taken on July 21, 2022 shows craters on Kherson's Antonovsky bridge across the Dnipro river caused by a Ukrainian rocket strike, amid the ongoing Russian military action in Ukraine. (AFP)
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Ukraine Strikes Bridge Used for Russian Supplies in Occupied South

 A picture taken on July 21, 2022 shows craters on Kherson's Antonovsky bridge across the Dnipro river caused by a Ukrainian rocket strike, amid the ongoing Russian military action in Ukraine. (AFP)
A picture taken on July 21, 2022 shows craters on Kherson's Antonovsky bridge across the Dnipro river caused by a Ukrainian rocket strike, amid the ongoing Russian military action in Ukraine. (AFP)

Ukraine struck a bridge in the occupied Black Sea region of Kherson on Saturday, targeting a Russian supply route as Kyiv prepares for a major counter-offensive, a Ukrainian regional official said.

The strike hit the Daryivskyi bridge across the Ingulets river used for supplies by Russian troops, days after a key bridge over the nearby Dnieper was hit, said an adviser to the region's governor who is on Ukrainian-held territory.

"Every bridge is a weak point for logistics and our armed forces are skillfully destroying the enemy system. This is not yet the liberation of Kherson, but a serious preparatory step in that direction," the official, Serhiy Khlan, wrote on Facebook.

The deputy head of the Russian-installed regional authority said the bridge had been hit by seven rockets from Western-supplied high mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS), but that the bridge still worked, Russia's TASS news agency said.

The assertions from both sides could not be independently verified by Reuters.

Ukraine has been using western-supplied long-range weapons to hit Russian supply lines and ammunition dumps in an effort to turn the tide in the war and prepare a counter-offensive in Kherson region.

Russia has captured swathes of southern and eastern Ukraine since it invaded on Feb. 24.



Russia, Chinese FMs Discuss Ties, Ukraine, Korean Peninsula on G20 Sidelines

In this handout picture released by the Russian Foreign Ministry on November 19, 2024, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov meets with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Russian Foreign Ministry/AFP)
In this handout picture released by the Russian Foreign Ministry on November 19, 2024, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov meets with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Russian Foreign Ministry/AFP)
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Russia, Chinese FMs Discuss Ties, Ukraine, Korean Peninsula on G20 Sidelines

In this handout picture released by the Russian Foreign Ministry on November 19, 2024, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov meets with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Russian Foreign Ministry/AFP)
In this handout picture released by the Russian Foreign Ministry on November 19, 2024, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov meets with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Russian Foreign Ministry/AFP)

Chinese and Russian foreign ministers discussed bilateral ties, the conflict in Ukraine and the situation on the Korean Peninsula on the sidelines of the Group of 20 meeting in Brazil, the foreign ministries of both countries said on Tuesday.

"We are truly at an unprecedented stage in the development of our strategic relations of a comprehensive partnership," Russia's Sergei Lavrov told his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, according to a post on the Russian foreign ministry Telegram channel.

Wang said that Beijing is willing to work with Russia to further strengthen bilateral "comprehensive strategic coordination," the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement.

The "two sides also exchanged views on the Ukraine crisis and the situation on the Korean Peninsula," it added without providing further detail.

The meeting is part of a frenzy of bilateral talks between China and Russia that followed Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine 1,000 days ago. The war ostracized Moscow from Kyiv's Western allies, bringing waves of sanctions on Russian politicians and businesses.

China and Russia declared a "no limits" partnership when Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Beijing less than three weeks before his troops marched into Ukraine in February 2022, triggering the deadliest land war in Europe since World War Two.

In May this year, Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged a "new era" of partnership between the two most powerful rivals of the United States, which they cast as an aggressive Cold War hegemon sowing chaos across the world.