Satellite Photo of Zatoka Bridge (09/06)

Zatoka Bridge, or Pidyomnyy Mist, is a strategic bridge over the Dnieper Estuary linking Odesa. Satellite photos showthe bridge standing despite repeated Russian missile strikes--however, photos of the bridge show significant damage.

A little video about a new satellite photo that has been shared online. This one showing Zatoka Bridge. Now, this photo was taken by Planet, shared on Twitter. It shows the Zatoka Bridge which has long been a target for Russian missile strikes. The bridge is located here, just south of Odesa and is a key strategic target. Destroying it cuts off a vital supply route for Odesa, forcing supplies to divert around the Dneiper estuary. This route however runs for 7.5 kilometers over Transnistrian territory in Moldova—a pro-russian sepearatist region.

Furthermore destroying the beidge further isolates the areas of Ukraine separated by the Dnieper estuary. And, there’s more—the railway crossing was a route fully under Ukrainian control. Not only does it link with western Odessa, but it is a key route for exports to countries such as Romania and Bulgaria and imports from Romania and Bulgaria.

This route is even more so important because of the blockade of Ukrainian ports. It is one of the few available foutes for export of grain via land. These photos here show some of the damage after a missile strike. And the next video shows a Kalibr strike on the bridge from June 3rd

Now, back to the satellite photo. The overall structure is still standing. Though damaged, especially in the southern portion. However, this photo here shows the damage inflicted on it—the photo was shared on June 3. Now, I’m not an engineering expert—at all—so I don’t know if this sort of damage is a quick fix, or if it’s a months long project.

So, just a short video here—I thought it was quite interesting to see the recent satellite photo of the bridge. While away from the frontline—the ongoing attempts to target the bridge is a key theater of conflict in the war. So it is worth keeping an eye on—to see whether Russia keeps targeting it and eventually fully destroys it, or if Ukraine manages to repair it and get it up and running again.