Bridge strike and regional attacks: Ukraine on 26 April 2022
A look back at a day when a missile destroyed a strategic bridge in Odesa Oblast and regional authorities reported fresh strikes across the country.
What did the war look like beyond the front line on 26 April 2022? In the regions, it arrived as strikes on infrastructure, civilian casualties and a shift in control of local government.
On that date, Ukrainian authorities said a Russian missile strike had destroyed a strategic bridge across the Dniester Estuary in Odesa Oblast.
Strikes in the days before
The preceding days had brought a run of reports from other regions. On 25 April 2022, regional authorities said airstrikes on Zhmerynka and Koziatyn in Vinnytsia Oblast had killed five people. The same day, one person was killed when Russia bombed the Kremenchuk Oil Refinery in Poltava Oblast.
On 24 April 2022, Ukrainian authorities said one person had been killed by overnight shelling in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. Russian state media reported the same day that Ukraine had launched rockets into a village in Belgorod Oblast, Russia.
Kherson and Moldova
In the south, Kherson mayor Ihor Kolykhaiev announced on 25 April 2022 that Russian forces had taken control of the Kherson City Council.
On 26 April 2022, attention also turned to Moldova. Its Supreme Security Council convened an emergency meeting after attacks the previous day in the breakaway region of Transnistria. President Maia Sandu said the attacks were aimed at destabilising the situation in the region. She added that the military would improve combat readiness and increase patrols on the border with Transnistria.
