Russia sustains heavy losses in failed river crossing, officials say

Ukrainian forces take out floating bridge, Russian equipment.

Russia suffered KYIV, UKRAINE — heavy losses when Ukrainian forces destroyed the pontoon bridge enemy troops were using to try to cross a river in the east, Ukrainian and British officials said, another sign of Moscow’s struggle to win decisive victories and salvage a war gone awry.

Ukraine’s airborne forces command has released photos and video of what it said was a damaged Russian pontoon bridge over the Siversky Donets River and several destroyed or damaged Russian military vehicles nearby.

Ukrainian news reports said troops thwarted Russian passage across the river earlier this week, leaving dozens of tanks or military vehicles damaged or abandoned. The command said Thursday its troops “drowned the Russian occupiers.”

Britain’s Defense Ministry said Friday that Russia lost “significant armored maneuver elements” of at least one battalion tactical group as well as equipment used to deploy a makeshift floating bridge.

“Conducting river crossings in a contested environment is a highly risky maneuver and speaks to the pressure the Russian commanders are under to make progress in their operations in eastern Ukraine,” the ministry said in its daily intelligence update.

Russia’s forces have struggled to do so, even after diverting troops from other parts of the country to the Donbas, the statement said.

Some analysts initially thought the campaign in the Donbas might offer President Vladimir Putin an easier battleground after his forces failed to overrun the capital. Instead, Russian and Ukrainian troops have fought village by village.

In that grinding fighting, the Ukrainian military chief for the eastern Luhansk region said Friday that Russian forces opened fire 31 times on residential areas the day before, destroying dozens of homes, notably in Hirske and Popasnianska villages, and a bridge in Rubizhne.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials claimed another success in the Black Sea, saying their forces took out another Russian ship, though there was no confirmation from Russia and no casualties were reported.

The Vsevolod Bobrov logistics ship was damaged badly but not thought to have sunk when it was struck while trying to deliver an anti-aircraft system to Snake Island, said Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to the Ukrainian president.

In April, the Ukrainian military sank the Moskva cruiser, the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet. In March, it destroyed the landing ship Saratov.

In order to better fend off the Russian advance, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba urged his country’s supporters in the Group of Seven major economies to supply more weapons, including multiple launch rocket systems and military planes. He also asked them to put further pressure on Russia’s economy by stepping up sanctions.

Ukrainian news reports said troops thwarted Russian passage across the river earlier this week, leaving dozens of tanks or military vehicles damaged or abandoned.