Officials in Russia claim that Ukrainian forces fired British-made, long-range missiles towards a bridge that leads from southern Ukraine to the Crimean peninsula.
The Russian-appointed governor of occupied Kherson, Vladimir Saldo, stated both of the city's parallel Chonhar bridges were damaged. There were no casualties.
As Mr. Saldo put it, it is "ordered by London" and likely that British Storm Shadow missiles were employed in this strike.
The bridge is the quickest connection to the southern front line from Crimea.
Connecting the Russian border in southern Ukraine to Crimea via the shoreline, the city of Melitopol is a key node.
Vladimir Saldo released photos of a large breach in one of the bridges and promised swift repairs while promising drivers a temporary detour. Nikolai Lukashenko, a Russian appointee, said the fixes may take weeks.
Natalia Humeniuk, a spokeswoman for the Ukrainian military, said on national TV that the army's goal was to disrupt Russia's supply routes, and Andriy Yusov, an official in the Ukrainian military's intelligence service, promised additional attacks.
Melitopol is believed to be one of the targets of Ukraine's counter-offensive, which began in the southern district of Zaporizhzhia earlier this month. The road is used by Russia as a land bridge to Crimea.
In 2014, Russian soldiers invaded and annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine. In February of the following year, they also invaded and annexed the southern coastline region of Ukraine.
Ukrainian military have previously destroyed bridges in the area that were under Russian control. They frequently attacked the Antonivskiy bridge last summer to prevent Russian forces from transferring supplies from seized Crimea in the weeks leading up to the recapture of Kherson on the east side of the Dnipro river.
Then, in October, a deadly attack that President Vladimir Putin branded a "act of terrorism" rendered a bridge across the Kerch Strait connecting Crimea to Russia inoperable for weeks. The Kerch Bridge still isn't accessible to all vehicles.
After the latest incident, Vladimir Saldo threatened to strike back by bombing a bridge between Moldova and Romania. Both NATO member Romania and non-aligned Moldova deemed his remarks to be totally inappropriate.
Ukraine's counteroffensive is making modest headway in the south and east, with only eight settlements reportedly regained so far.
The destruction of the Kakhovka dam on the Dnipro river last month in what is believed to be a Russian sabotage strike has complicated the campaign. The flooding caused by the dam upstream made for difficult river crossings on the Dnieper. There have been dozens of deaths, countless acres of farmland destroyed, and disruptions to water supply.
Overnight, Russian forces continued to attack Ukrainian cities like the southern port of Odesa and the president's hometown of Kryvyih Rih.
Russian intelligence reportedly has information that Russia is planning a "scenario of a terrorist attack" on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear reactor, which they captured during last year's full-scale assault, President Zelensky informed Ukrainians on Thursday.
Mr. Zelensky cautioned, "radiation has no state borders," and the facility is the largest in Europe. His statements were quickly dismissed by the Kremlin as "another lie."
On Wednesday, the UN's atomic energy organization cautioned that the plant's safety and security situation was "extremely fragile," despite the fact that all six reactors had been shut down.
Due to the destruction of the Kakhovka dam, water levels in a canal used to cool the reactors have dropped, and the UN agency has reported that the situation around the plant has become extremely tense.