According to the Defense Ministry, the Ukrainian military tried to attack targets in the Crimea, Rostov and Kaluga regions on the night of July 9-10 using S-200 anti-aircraft missiles modified to attack ground targets, but two of them were destroyed by the air defense and two others were diverted.

“The Chief of the General Staff of the Aerospace Forces, Colonel General Victor Afzalov, reported to the Commander of the Combined Group of Troops, Army General Valery Gerasimov, about the destruction of four Ukrainian ballistic targets,” the report stated. Afzalov specified that the air defenses destroyed two missiles targeted at the Kerch Strait bridge and the Morozovsk military airfield in the Rostov-on-Don province.

The Defense Ministry added that Gerasimov gave instructions to organize systematic work to identify places of storage and preparation and launch sites for the S-200 missiles and their similars and plan their destruction. He also gave instructions to take additional measures, as soon as possible to strengthen the protection of facilities against air attacks.

The report says that the 31st Air Defense Division of the Russian Armed Forces intercepted a missile north of Taman, whose remains fell into the Azov Sea.

The chairman of the “We are together with Russia” movement, Vladimir Rogov, reported that traffic on the bridge on the Kerch strait was temporarily stopped. He clarified that, according to his preliminary information, this was linked with an attempt by the Armed Forces of Ukraine to attack part of the bridge in the Kerch region.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense recognized earlier for the first time its responsibility for the terrorist attack on the Crimean bridge on October 8th, 2022.

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