These images purport to show how Russian engineers set up a ferry crossing on the Dnieper River after Ukrainian forces shelled the Antonovsky Bridge.
On one side of the river lies the Mykolaiv region, which is largely still under Ukrainian control, while on the south-eastern shore of the river is Kherson Oblast, a region of southern Ukraine that is currently under Russian control.
The footage appears to show civilian vehicles being loaded onto a makeshift, pontoon ferry under the watchful eye of Russian soldiers.
Civilians can then also be seen making their way onto the ferry before it sets off and heads toward the other side of the river.
The ferry can then be seen arriving on the other side of the river before the civilians can be seen disembarking as the footage ends.
The footage was obtained from the pro-Russian, so-called People’s Militia of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) on Monday, August 1, along with a short statement saying that it shows how “engineering units of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation organized a ferry crossing across the Dnieper for the residents of Kherson region.”
We have not been able to independently verify the DPR’s claims or the footage.
Anton Herashchenko, 43, an adviser and a former Deputy Minister at the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs, speculated about the potential military use of the pontoon bridge and how it might be used to evacuate retreating Russian forces if the Ukrainian counteroffensive is successful.
He said: “There are big questions about when the Armed Forces of Ukraine advance, if the orcs will also be loaded onto this crossing in such a relaxed manner.”
The Ukrainian forces regularly refer to the invading Russian forces as “orcs”.
The Antonovsky road bridge was heavily damaged last week following Ukrainian rocket fire from U.S.-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), in a move that is geared toward cutting off Russian supply lines ahead of an expected Ukrainian counter-offensive, according to Ukrainian officials.
Zenger News contacted the DPR for further comment, as well as the Ukrainian and Russian Ministries of Defense, but had not received a reply at the time of writing.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 in what the Kremlin is calling a “special military operation”. Tuesday marks the 160th day of the invasion.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that between February 24 and August 2, Russia had lost about 41,170 personnel, 1,768 tanks, 4,014 armored combat vehicles, 936 artillery units, 259 multiple launch rocket systems, 117 air defense systems, 223 warplanes, 191 helicopters, 739 drones, 174 cruise missiles, 15 warships, 2,914 motor vehicles and fuel tankers, and 82 units of special equipment.
Russia has claimed that its casualties have been much lower, but provides infrequent updates on its latest figures.
Antonio Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, has warned that nuclear annihilation is only one miscalculation away at the opening of a nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) conference in New York. He said that the world is facing “nuclear danger not seen since the height of the Cold War”.
He added that the war in Ukraine was a significant factor and said: “Humanity is just one misunderstanding, one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a letter addressed to the attendees of the NPT conference in New York on Monday that there could be “no winners” in the event of nuclear war and that it should “never be unleashed”.
But in February, Putin warned outsiders that any attempt to interfere with his invasion of Ukraine would “lead you to such consequences that you have never encountered in your history”. He then put Russia’s nuclear forces on high alert.
U.S. Secretary Of State Antony Blinken said Washington was “deeply concerned” that Russia is using a captured Ukrainian nuclear power plant – the largest in the country – as a military base and firing on Ukrainian forces from around it. He labeled Moscow’s actions “the height of irresponsibility”. The U.S. has accused Russia of using the nuclear power plant as a “nuclear shield”.
The U.S. is sending over $500 million in additional weaponry to Ukraine, including ammunition for rocket launchers and artillery. The Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Oleksii Reznikov, 56, said on Monday that Ukraine had received four additional HIMARS – High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems – from the U.S.
France’s President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that his country is donating a mobile DNA laboratory to the Ukrainian authorities to help ensure that Russia’s war crimes do not go unpunished.
