At beginning of full-scale war, Ukrainian defenders blew up two bridges and several dams on border with Crimea

The Ukrainian Armed Forces managed to blow up two bridges and several dams near the border with Crimea at the beginning of the full-scale war, while the explosives laid on other bridges did not blow up.

Source: Ukrainska Pravda (UP) article "How the Armed Forces of Ukraine prepared the south for defence, laid mines in Chonhar and fought for Kherson Oblast. Reconstruction"

Details: The sappers who mined the Chonhar Road Bridge said that two spans were supposed to collapse. Marine Ivan Sestryvatovskyi tried to blow it up several times, but the explosive devices failed.

The military suggested that the reason could be the heavy mortar and artillery fire from the Russians, who started their invasion in Ukraine’s south. The sappers explained that such incidents happened quite often.

The marines managed to blow up three of the four dams along the border with Crimea, one of which, however, was not significantly damaged. A similar fate awaited the Chonhar Railway Bridge – the mines exploded, but there was no damage. A bridge located further inland, near Chaplynka, was damaged.

Finally, at the cost of his life, sailor Vitalii Skakun blew up the Henichesk Bridge, for which he was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine.

This bridge, the only one on the isthmuses, was supposed to be blown up in a different way, as there were no pre-connected power lines. The reason was that the bridge was located a little further away from the Russians, more inland, and there were not enough people to keep watch there around the clock.

But everything on it was ready to be blown up. In the neighbouring village of Novooleksiivka, trailers loaded with explosives were always ready to go. The sailor had to bring them to the bridge, connect the wire, move to a safe distance and activate the device. The sailor had time to do everything but retreat.

The military has two versions of why this happened. According to one of them, Skakun ran to reconnect a wire which was damaged by Russian fire. According to the second, the sailor was killed in the explosion because of Russian fire, which was already covering the bridge.

Read more on this story: Reconstructing chronology of how Ukraine's Armed Forces prepared to defend the south, mined Chonhar and fought for Kherson Oblast

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