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Ukrainian drones knocking out the northwestern entrance to Crimea: four bridges targeted in one night

ukrainian drones knocking out northwestern entrance crimea bridges damaged one night · post rl9vo -ukraine-targets-four-bridges-at-crimea-s-northwestern-choke-point- struck four vehicular crimea's overnight 11 2026 quisling official vladimir saldo claimed strikes part ukraine's

Ukrainian drones struck four vehicular bridges at Crimea's northwestern entrance overnight on 11 June 2026, quisling official Vladimir Saldo claimed. The strikes are part of Ukraine's most recent mid-range strike push—now at its fourth day—reaching every road corridor between Crimea and mainland Ukraine. The same night, drone attacks also rolled across Sevastopol, Bakhchysarai, Saky, and other Crimean sites.

Russia depends on the Crimean land corridor to push fuel, ammunition, and replacements to its forces in occupied southern Ukraine. Ukrainian mid-range drones operating under the military's Logistics Lockdown program have steadily shrunk that corridor's reliability since May. Ukraine has now struck all three major connection points between occupied Crimea and mainland Ukraine within four days, damaging some bridges and destroying others.

Four bridges damaged at the Armiansk isthmus

Saldo, the Russian-installed head of occupied Kherson Oblast, named the four targets on his Telegram. They include the automobile bridge in the Perekop-Armiansk area and a bridge near Stavky, Kherson OblastTwo more bridges near Myrne and Preobrazhenka span the North Crimean Canal. Saldo stated all four spans sustained damage.

ukrainian drones knocking out northwestern entrance crimea bridges damaged one night · post google maps view four struck overnight 11 2026 — near myrne between stavky preobrazhenka perekop armiansk crimean
Google Maps view of the four bridges struck by Ukrainian drones overnight on 11 June 2026 — near Myrne, between Stavky and Preobrazhenka, and at Perekop near Armiansk in the northwestern Crimean isthmus. Map: Google Maps

Three Crimean northern choke points hit in four days

Ukraine struck the Chonhar bridge on 7 and 9 Juneclosing Russia's main road link to occupied Crimea, yet the Russians reportedly installed a pontoon bridge next to the severely damaged crossing. On 10 June, Ukrainian drones hit the bridge from Henichesk to Arabat Spit. With both routes fully or partially shut, Russia had rerouted traffic through Armiansk and Perekop — the very corridor struck overnight. DeepState analysts noted that Ukrainian strikes on the bridges are an important part of the blockade of occupied southern Ukraine.

Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory, including Crimea and parts of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson oblasts. Illustrative map: Euromaidan Press

Not only an entrance, but also targets across the peninsula

Russia's occupation governor, Mikhail Razvozhayev, claimed 32 drones were shot down over Sevastopol between 22:00 and midnight. He claimed the drones fell near Sevastopol Bay, Cape Fiolent, and Balaklava. The city declared two air alerts during the night and the morning.

Monitoring Telegram channel Krymsky Veter reported machine-gun fire in Pishchane at 21:40 and in Andriivka shortly after, citing subscribers. 

"At 21:40 a machine gun started firing in Pishchane, at 21:48 a machine gun started in Andriivka, after which an anti-aircraft gun fired a couple of bursts," the channel wrote. 

Detonations followed near Cape Fiolent, in Sevastopol, and later in Bakhchysarai. By morning, Krymsky Veter reported explosions and shooting in Saky.

Russia's Defense Ministry claimed the destruction of 330 drones over Russia and the occupied territories in the same overnight period.

Update

The First Assault Brigade shared the footage of the strikes:

Videos emerged of some of the Ukrainian strikes on bridges linking occupied Crimea to occupied Kherson Oblast

Ukraine's 1st Assault Brigade, 475th Assault Regiment, and SBU's Alfa reportedly took part.

📹 1st Assault Brigade
More on the strikes: https://t.co/xkKf15akux https://t.co/7FhAOJbWl0 pic.twitter.com/WFXUcKjfWm

— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) June 11, 2026
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ISW: The strikes will likely cascade into deeper disruption across Russia’s rear supply network

Drones of the 20th Separate Brigade of Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces (SBS), known as K-2, and the Phoenix drone unit strike a Russian military truck on a logistics route in Donetsk Oblast, 7 June 2026. Photo: SBS

Ukraine's drone strikes on the highways that feed Russian forces in occupied southern and eastern Ukraine are disrupting Russian logistics and will likely bite deeper in the near future, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). The campaign is also rattling Russia's pro-war online community, where bloggers have begun turning their anger on the Kremlin's own military leadership. Russian forces are already rerouting and disguising convoys to keep supplies moving.

Ukraine's drone war has dragged the fight off the trench line and into Russia's rear, where fuel and transport increasingly decide how long Moscow can keep its invasion supplied. If Ukrainian crews keep the main arteries under watch, Russia faces a slow squeeze on its rear and the political cost of admitting those roads are no longer safe.

Ukraine's drones now own a key supply road

Ukraine's 3rd Army Corps said on 31 May that its drones had won "fire control" over five occupied cities. All five sit on or near the M-04 highway: Luhansk City, Starobilsk, Alchevsk, Bryanka, and Kadiivka. In plain terms, Ukrainian crews can now strike traffic on that road.

Map of southern Ukraine and adjacent Russian territory showing three concentric Ukrainian drone strike zones — FPV at 20 km, AI-assisted Hornets at 150 km, and FP-1/FP-2 long-range drones at 200 km — layered over the M-14 highway (Rostov to occupied Crimea) and the H-20 (Mariupol north into Donetsk Oblast). The Mariupol-Crimea-Rostov segment of M-14 is highlighted as closed by Russia for civilian traffic. The Mykolaiv-Kherson segment is highlighted as closed by Ukraine in 2025.
Ukrainian drone strike zones layered over Russia's southern supply network. FPVs reach roughly 20 km from the front, Hornets and other AI-assisted drones to 150 km, and FP-1 and FP-2 long-range drones to 200 km. The M-14 highway (Rostov-on-Don to occupied Crimea) and H-20 (branches north from Mariupol into Donetsk Oblast) both fall inside the deeper rings. Russian authorities have closed the M-14 to civilian traffic. The Ukrainian segment of the same highway, between Kherson and Mykolaiv, was closed by Ukrainian authorities in August 2025 after Russian drones turned it into a "human safari" killing ground. Map: Euromaidan Press.

A Ukrainian drone operator argued the M-04 matters more to Russia than the better-known M-14. The M-14 links Rostov Oblast to occupied Crimea. The M-04 begins near Moscow and reaches Rostov-on-Don before carrying on to Russia's Black Sea coast and into the Caucasus. It feeds occupied Crimea, southern Ukraine, and Luhansk Oblast through the Russian towns of Millerovo and Kamensk-Shakhtinsky. It also supplies Donetsk Oblast through Novoshakhtinsk in Rostov Oblast.

The Russian vehicles are burning on the route to Crimea. Source: The 3rd Separate Special Purpose Regiment
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Flat steppe: Ukraine is strangling Crimea’s supply lines from air. Melitopol-Chonhar road is latest target

The two highways connect, and Ukrainian forces are also hitting the H-20 road that joins them through Donetsk City. ISW assessed that the strikes will likely generate "even more profound cascading effects" across Russia's rear. The effort extends Ukraine's wider push to drive deep strikes further behind the front.

Russia bans buses and repaints its trucks

The strikes are already forcing changes on the ground. Leonid Pasechnik, the Russian-installed head of occupied Luhansk Oblast, issued a decree on 6 June. It bars regular bus and coach services on the section of the highway crossing occupied Luhansk.

A Russian “Svitlyak” border patrol ship seen from a Ukrainian drone before a strike near Yurkine, occupied Crimea. Screenshot from video: Madyar
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The Crimean Bridge is heavily guarded. Ukraine struck its maritime security layer in the Kerch Strait.

Ukrainian Mariupol mayoral adviser Petro Andriushchenko reported on 7 June that Russian forces had changed their Mariupol–Berdiansk route. They now use local coastal roads instead of the M-14. ndriushchenko said the troops are passing army vehicles off as civilian, recoloring the tarpaulins over each cargo bed and spraying the trucks white. ISW assessed the detours will likely slow Russian supply runs as Ukraine keeps hunting vehicles.

Russia's war bloggers turn on the Kremlin's generals

Ukraine's strikes are landing in Russia's information space too. Russia's pro-war military bloggers are voicing discontent and panic over the campaign.

Russian military truck on fire after a Ukrainian drone strike near occupied Horlivka, Donetsk Oblast, 5 June 2026. Screenshot from video: Supernova+
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Ukraine doubles deep strikes beyond 50 km as “Logistics Lockdown” shifts priority deeper into Russia’s transport nodes and rear logistics chains

A pro-war blogger and former Storm-Z assault-unit instructor complained on 7 June that Ukraine is now striking factories and defense plants deep inside Russia while degrading Russian air-defense radars and systems. He blamed bureaucracy and state-corporate infighting for Moscow's failure to respond, and separately complained that Russia cannot read Ukraine's battlefield trends and underrates its capabilities. Other bloggers piled on: one claimed fuel shortages were stoking panic in occupied Crimea, while others faulted the Russian Defense Ministry and top general Valery Gerasimov for not striking Ukrainian logistics, especially the Dnipro River bridges.

ISW found the complaints are escalating, and that the strike campaigns are becoming "points of neuralgia" in Russia's ultranationalist crowd. It noted the discontent feeds on Russia's poor battlefield results, rising casualties, and economic strain. Even before this, Russia's war bloggers had turned on the Kremlin's commanders over inflated victory claims.

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Flat steppe: Ukraine is strangling Crimea’s supply lines from air. Melitopol-Chonhar road is latest target

The Russian vehicles are burning on the route to Crimea. Source: The 3rd Separate Special Purpose Regiment

Ukrainian Special Operations Forces drone operators have established aerial control over part of the Russian land supply route from occupied Melitopol to Chonhar. The path is the entry point to Crimea, and they are destroying Russian equipment and disrupting Russian military logistics on the road, the 3rd Separate Special Purpose Regiment announces.

Russian forces on the peninsula already depend on a constrained set of supply lines: the Kerch Bridge (under sustained Ukrainian threat since 2022), the rail and road corridor through occupied Donetsk Oblast, and the Melitopol-Chonhar bottleneck. Ukrainian aerial denial of any one of these links compounds pressure on the others. 

Squeezing land corridor from both ends

The new operation puts pressure on the land corridor's western end. On 31 May, Mariupol residents reported in local group chats that Russia shut down part of its land corridor from Crimea to occupied Donetsk because of Ukrainian drones.

The Melitopol-Chonhar segment crosses flat steppe with limited cover and funnels Russian convoys through narrow bridge crossings over the Syvash to reach the peninsula, the terrain optimal for drone operators to deny the air with persistent surveillance and strike capability. 

SSO drones as the strangulation instrument

The 3rd Separate Special Purpose Regiment is one of Ukraine's veteran Special Operations Forces units, named after the tenth-century Kyivan Rus prince.

The regiment's deployment of drone operators against Russian logistics on the Melitopol-Chonhar route fits within Ukraine's broader "logistics lockdown" approach to occupied territory. Ukraine's Defense Ministry has recently committed $113 million to medium-strike drones designed to target Russian rear logistics.

"Drones of the Special Operations Forces unit are destroying equipment and breaking the enemy's logistics routes on the Melitopol-Chonhar route," the 3rd Regiment said.

What does this change for Russia on peninsula? 

Russia's military presence in Crimea depends on a continuous supply of fuel, ammunition, and food, as well as on personnel rotation. 

"As a result, the already-difficult logistics for supplying the Russian army and fuel to the peninsula have grown harder," the SSO said.

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