Multiple explosions at a critica
bridge linking
Crimea to Russian occupied Ukrai
Russia says the explosions were
by Ukrainian missiles.
Supplied by the UK.
Ukraine acknowledged the strikes
but didn't say whether the missi
were British supplied.
Russia says it intercepted
nine of the 12
missiles fired
and CNN's chief
international security correspon
Nick Paton Walsh is in Ukraine w
Jim, these two bridges
hit the run from Crimea the peni
occupied by Russia in 2014
and the Zafer region
has sun
as well recently occupied them
in the last war of the natural
and handed tense
and they're vital parts of both
the civilian and military infras
Russian officials
kind of try to brush the damage
really saying they'll be functio
by the end of the day
and that they have another one a
running to the west of those
but still this is again pinpoint
by Ukrainian missiles
Russian officials suggesting
those were indeed
British
supplied storm
shadow missiles
that have some sort of space cap
to get through air defenses
although the Russians suggesting
they took down a significant num
of those indeed fired.
But the pinpoint
nature of these strikes against
Russian infrastructure is key
because it's about disrupting
supply routes,
particularly from the military
stronghold of Crimea up towards
reaches, western area
near where I'm standing.
That is essentially
the focus
of this
latest thrust of Ukraine's
counter offensive
they want to move down to cut Cr
from the rest of Russian
occupied territory. It's very sl
But the big I think here
is that these resupply routes
can be cut by these pinpoint air
Quite how successful
these strikes have been,
we will know possibly in the day
or weeks ahead if indeed they do
Russia's supply lines.
But sometimes
these attacks precede an uptick
in Ukrainian activity.
Unclear at this point,
but it caps an awful 72 hours of
for tat strikes going back
and forth between
Ukraine, admitting
that some military targets
were indeed hit
in the last 24 hours,
some perhaps by hypersonic missi
launched by Russia
and to
significant drone attacks by Ukr
on the water against a Russian
oil cargo ship, a Russian amphib
assault ship.
Remarkable
targeting, frankly
by Kiev using technology
that's pretty new.
But still the focus really now
on the counter offensive
and whether or not
these pinpoint strikes
against Russian infrastructure
can try and give Ukraine
an edge in that Jim.
All right, Nick
Paton Walsh, thanks very much.
Joining us now is retired U.S.
Army General Mark Hertling.
General Hertling,
great to see you as always.
What's the significance of Ukrai
going after these bridges near C
I mean, we've heard time and aga
that Ukraine would love to get
Ukraine would love to get Crimea
Is that what this is about?
Partly, Jim.
You know,
Nick just mentioned the targetin
You know, many people don't unde
that in the military
there is such a thing
as a targeting process.
What kind of targets are you goi
How will it affect the battlefie
What kind of things do you need
to literally restrain your enemy
from doing the kinds of things
he wants to do?
And that's what's occurring here
when you're talking
about the offensive operations
of Ukrainian forces in the south
They are attempting
to liberate the two provinces
of her song and zap Russia.
As you
look at the map
that you have posted on on the s
right now,
a lot of
the supplies are coming
into those two provinces
where the red area is from, Crim
Others are coming from a small t
across the border
in Russia called Rostov on down
along a major supply route
or what
the military
would call a line of communicati
When you interrupt
that passage of supplies,
whether it be ammunition,
food, resupply, personnel, equip
arms, all of those things will h
the defensive operations of Russ
And that's what I believe
the Ukrainian main effort
is, is not only to continue
their offensive operation
in a smaller way than anticipate
and perhaps a little bit slower,
but they're doing it by literall
taking away the capability
of Ukraine to reinforce excuse m
to reinforce
and resupply their forces
on the front lines. This is all
Yeah.
And Russia is saying
Ukraine used British supplied mi
to carry out these strikes. Why?
Why is that important?
Yeah, it's important.
The storm shadow missile
that Nick just mentioned,
it's very different
than some of the other missiles
that Ukraine has been been firin
primarily.
It's not fired
from the ground up into the air
like a ballistic missile
and then lands on a target somew
in enemy territory.
It's shot from a Ukrainian aircr
and it's a cruise missile.
That means it has different
types of guidance systems.
Jeep's
inertial guidance of terrain fol
So it's a radar
that follows the nap of the Eart
close to 100 to 200 meters
above the ground.
When you have that,
it can't it's difficult to detec
by this by the Russians.
It's also very difficult to shoo
The key
thing also is
it has a range of about 150 mile
So this can hit those major ammo
those resupply
lines, the railroad transport li
or the highways
that most artillery can't hit.
And you can hit it
from behind the Ukrainian lines.
So the airplanes that shoot them
stay safe.
They're not engaged by
Russian air defense
and they can shoot from longer d
to hit the supply lines
that are affecting the Russian
military operation in general.
This caught my eye yesterday.
We were talking about it
a little bit yesterday.
I'm sure this caught your eye as
We want to look at this video
obtained by CNN
that shows a Ukrainian sea drone
attacking a Russian oil
tanker on Saturday.
What do you make of
the use of this technology?
It just seems more and more
we're seeing the use of these dr
And it's it's kind of ingenious
on the part of the Ukrainians
because you
don't really need much of a navy
if you can use these sorts of Na
under the cover of darkness, I g
Well, again, it's a requirement
to get the right
targeting to use these kind of s
But but none of these sea drones
or aircraft drones,
an unmanned systems, as we call
are new.
Nothing is new about them.
What's interesting,
though, is that
Ukraine forces has a have adapte
to build this kind of equipment
to to take literally
inexpensive capabilities.
That sea drone is an example
probably cost
maybe a couple of thousand dolla
And it's literally either damagi
or destroying a ship
that runs in the hundreds of mil
And it affects the Russian capab
to defend the Black Sea.
So that's
you know, it's
the return on the investment,
first of all.
But it's
an adapting
of a civilian type of capability
A remote controlled motorboat,
basically to strike a ship.
And it's been fascinating
to watch Ukraine adapt
in many of these ways.
Yeah, I was just going to say it
almost looks like a jet ski or s
and they've mounted a camera on
And I suppose it's being used
for propaganda purposes
as well to tell the Russians
Oh, by the way,
we can just use this low tech wa
of coming after your ships.
Yeah, definitely.
Psychological warfare.
You know, Russia.
And it's not only psychological,
physical, Jim,
because Russia now has realizes
they have to defend in places
they didn't anticipate defending
hundreds of miles away from the
of Ukraine
in the north
or excuse me, in the southeast
sector of the black
sea, those
that's almost 500 miles away
from the coastline of Ukraine.
When you endanger boats
in those areas, ships
and ships
with something
like this, small motorboat,
it's really significant
because Russia
then has to calculate, gee,
how do I defend that
and where do I take
forces from other places
in order to do that?
So it's very challenging,
both psychologically
and physically to do those thing
Yeah, just fascinating video
I wanted to ask you about. All r
Lieutenant General Mark Hertling
great to see you as always.
Thanks so much.
Pleasure, Jim.
Thanks.