The Armed Forces of Ukraine carried out a series of strikes on bridges in the temporarily occupied Crimea in order to complicate the logistics of the Russian army in the South. This operation was implemented by a new unit of the Armed Forces of Ukraine called "Phalanx," information about which was classified, UNN reports.
Bridges in temporarily occupied Crimea under attack
Using Ukrainian-made middle-strike UAVs, the military struck key Crimean bridges near Chongar and Armyansk. The strikes were carried out using FP-2 and "Behemoth" drones. The bridge connecting the Kherson region with Crimea in Chongar was hit twice – on the night of June 6-7, as well as on the night of June 9.
On June 8, the bridge leading from Henichesk to the Arabat Spit came under attack.
Two more bridges across the North Crimean Canal — in the area of the settlements of Preobrazhenka and Myrne near Armyansk — were attacked on June 11.
In addition, on the night of June 13, the "Dzhankoy" checkpoint, a railway bridge, and a pontoon crossing were hit. In the video recordings of the strikes shown by the 1st Separate Assault Regiment named after Dmytro Kotsiubailo, instead of a traditional sight, there is a green heart, which is characteristic of strike drones produced by the Fire Point company.
Who carried out the operation
As reported by BBC Ukraine, this was a planned operation to cut off the temporarily occupied Crimea from the mainland, which significantly complicated the logistics of the Russian army. The operation was carried out by a unit of the Armed Forces of Ukraine – the multi-domain center "Phalanx," which had not been publicly reported before.
According to the publication, "Phalanx" was formed in the spring of 2026 by a decision of the Ministry of Defense, merging the forces of two powerful assault units: the 1st Separate Assault Regiment named after Dmytro Kotsiubailo and the 475th Separate Assault Regiment Code 9.2. The unit is led by two Heroes of Ukraine: Major Dmytro Filatov (call sign "Perun") commands the 1st SAR, and Major Oleksandr Nastenko (call sign "Flint") commands the 475th SAR.
The multi-domain center received its name from the infantry battle formation in Ancient Greece, whose main weapon in the first rank of warriors in the phalanx was a long spear (4-7 meters in length). The combination of this weapon and the formation structure provided significant advantages to the army of Alexander the Great.
The point is that Ukrainian assault troops have received their "long spear" for the first time — middle-strike attack drones, primarily the FP-2. Previously, they only had short-range drones, the publication writes.
As Nastenko explained in an interview, the infantry's middle-strikes have effectively replaced tactical aviation at the front. According to him, with the help of medium-range drones, the military managed to replace bombers, the use of which for striking targets in occupied territories is risky.
In addition, this allowed the assault regiments to significantly speed up the time for planning and conducting operations. While previously a request for aviation support could be considered for weeks, now an operation to strike Russian positions at a medium distance (100-300 km) with long-range drones takes only a few hours.
"The reactivity we have gained is sometimes decisive on the battlefield. Now I don't have to look for someone to work on this target. I can take it and work on it myself," said the commander of the 475th SAR.
Long-range UAVs allowed for the expansion of the strike zone to tens or even hundreds of kilometers from the line of combat engagement. Therefore, in the spring of this year, the idea arose to consolidate the planning, reconnaissance, and operation units of several assault regiments into a single center, and a new unit of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was created.
"The 'Phalanx' Multi-Domain Operations Center is already showing very good results. It was created specifically for planning and implementing successful assault actions. Not for other purposes. This is not a coordination center for the Unmanned Systems Forces, it is not a fire damage coordination center. It is specifically a center that plans ground assault operations," Nastenko explained.
Currently, both assault regiments merged into "Phalanx" are fighting in the Huliaipole direction and are trying to restrain the advancement of the 100,000-strong enemy group "Vostok" towards Zaporizhzhia. For this purpose, the decision was made to conduct an operation to "cut off" the peninsula.
Operation planning
As Nastenko said, "Phalanx" cyber intelligence discovered that the Russian army changed the route for delivering fuel to the Huliaipole direction. Instead of the highway to Mariupol, which the Armed Forces of Ukraine took under fire control, the enemy began to bypass through Crimea.
"We received information that a very large Russian column was being prepared. Within a short period of time — about 6 hours — the decision was made to strike the Chongar bridge so that this column would not pass. This was late at night from June 6 to 7. We did not inflict enough damage on this bridge, and a day later we struck it again," said "Flint."
After the strike on the bridge in Chongar, the military immediately began preparing strikes on the bridges on the Armyansk-Perekop stretch. In addition, cyber intelligence intercepted information that one of the Russian brigade commanders told his subordinates to try to drive through Armyansk.
The "Phalanx" center decided to strike in this area: attack one bridge in Armyansk and two bypasses across the canal, where a Russian column of about 50 units, including fuel tankers, was located.
"There is no longer a transport corridor to Crimea from the mainland. We have issued a 'death warrant.' By striking the bridges, we have desacralized this object. I have no doubt that all the bridges will be finished off. This will be 100% systematic work. From now on, Crimea can be considered an island. Let the Russians buy boats to get to the mainland," Nastenko noted.
According to him, the Russians' use of pontoon crossings instead of bridges will "ease" the work for the Defense Forces.
"We did not have the task of completely destroying the bridges. In principle, the current situation suits us. Damaged bridges mean limited movement. If they throw down pontoons, it doesn't provide the same throughput as a stationary bridge. There is only reverse traffic: one lane moves, the other stands. And so it goes all day. Huge 'tails' of cars are created, logistics break down," he added.
He noted that the complicated logistics in the Zaporizhzhia direction will be strongly felt by the enemy. And if the Armed Forces of Ukraine manage to block it for a long time, then one can expect the emergence of opportunities for "successful actions" by the Armed Forces of Ukraine at the front.
Reminder
The commander of the USF of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Robert "Madyar" Brovdi, confirmed the strike on "Crimean Titan" in Armyansk in temporarily occupied Crimea.