May 15, 2022

River crossings such as this, moving big heavy equipment over hastily-made temporary bridges is inherently risky anyway but made much much worse when your enemy rains their artillery fire down on you, as happened to these unfortunate Russians a couple of days ago. An entire battalion was effectively destroyed in a matter of minutes. It also points to the risks the Russians are willing to take to show any progress.

“Some bathed in the Siverskyi Donets River, and some were burned by the May sun,” tweeted the Ukrainian defence ministry.

Source: Independent

The Russian army has suffered heavy losses, including the destruction of around three dozen tanks, after the Ukrainian army blew up a pontoon bridge over the Siverskyi Donets river in the Luhansk region, according to reports.

Satellite images collected by geospatial intelligence firm BlackSky show that a pontoon bridge – used primarily but not invariably for military purposes – was destroyed on 10 May after Ukrainian artillery struck the bridge and surrounding area.

The images show smoke emanating from the half-sunken bridge with destroyed armoured vehicles lying on the shores of the Siverskyi Donets river, running west to east between Russian rebel-controlled provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine.

On Wednesday, the Ukrainian defence ministry shared the same images, saying Ukrainian ground forces, artillerymen of the 17th tank brigade, “have opened the holiday season for ruscists”, referring to Russian soldiers.

“Some bathed in the Siverskyi Donets River, and some were burned by the May sun,” it said.

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