Ukraine's campaign to retake the occupied Kherson region is "gathering pace," Western military sources say. A key bridge into the city of Kherson is now out of action after Ukrainian forces struck it with long-range rockets originally supplied by the US.

It means thousands of Russian troops are now in danger of being cut off from the rest of the occupied territory. Strategically located west of the Dnipro River, the city was the first in the war to fall to Moscow's forces.

Ukrainian forces fired at Kherson's Antonivskiy Bridge using a Himars artillery rocket system on Tuesday, which according to Western military sources has left the crossing "completely unusable."

Only a pockmarked wreck remains of the half-mile long bridge, one of two key routes spanning the Dnipro River which have both now been hit.

Moscow depended on the crossings to resupply their troops stationed west of the river, and are now at risk of becoming isolated from the rest of Russia's occupying forces.

Military sources described Kherson as "politically the nearest Russia has to a jewel in the crown of its occupation" - and its loss, they say, "would severely undermine Russia's attempts to paint the occupation as a success".

Moscow is now "moving the maximum number of troops in the Kherson direction," said Oleksiy Danilov, who is secretary of Ukraine's National Security Council, on Wednesday evening.

The BBC has not been able to independently verify this claim.

Elsewhere in eastern Donetsk, Russian forces said they had captured the country's second largest power station - the Vuhlehirsk coal-fired plant. In Kherson, Russian-installed officials confirmed that a Ukrainian artillery strike had seriously damaged the Antonivskiy Bridge, forcing its closure to traffic.

Speaking to Ria news agency, deputy city leader Kirill Stremousov said ferries and pontoon bridges would now be used instead to maintain links across the Dnipro River with the rest of Russian-occupied territory.

For days the Ukrainian military has targeted the bridges using highly effective rocket systems supplied by the US.

According to Western military sources, the attack is part of a Ukrainian counter effort to isolate Russian troops, with the ultimate goal of recapturing the entire region.

If it proves successful the ambitious campaign would provide a much-needed boost for Kyiv by retaking from Russia the most significant population centre it has so far captured since the invasion began - the city of Kherson.

(Source: BBC)