KYIV: Ukraine conducted long-range strikes on Russian troop bases and two key bridges across the Dnipro river overnight, Ukrainian officials said on Monday.

The strikes hit the only two crossings Russia has to the pocket of southern Ukrainian territory it has occupied on the western bank of the vast Dnipro river, said Natalia Humeniuk, spokesperson for Ukraine’s southern military command.

“The results (of the strikes) are rather respectable, hits on the Antonivskyi and Kakhovskyi bridges,” she said on television. Ukrainian HIMARS strikes also hit multiple military bases in Ukraine’s Russian-occupied southern city of Melitopol in the early hours, killing troops and destroying hardware, the exiled mayor said.

“According to preliminary estimates, a significant amount of military equipment was destroyed,” Mayor Ivan Fedorov wrote on Telegram. Reuters could not immediately verify the officials’ battlefield accounts.

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Ukraine’s defence minister said two weeks ago that 50 Russian ammunition depots had been destroyed by US-supplied HIMARS multiple rocket launchers, which Ukraine started using in June.

Russia says it is waging a “special military operation” in Ukraine to rid it of nationalists and protect Russian-speaking communities. Ukraine and the West describe Russia’s actions as unprovoked aggression.