KYIV, June 22 - Russia-appointed officials in Crimea said that a bridge between the Moscow-annexed peninsula and Russia-occupied areas in southern Ukraine was hit by missiles Thursday, threatening a key supply link to Russian forces amid the early stages of a Ukrainian counteroffensive.

The Russian military has relied on the Chongar bridge as the principal connection to its forces in the Kherson region, part of which is controlled by Moscow. Vladimir Saldo, the Moscow-appointed Kherson governor, said the bridge was hit by air-launched Storm Shadow missiles supplied by the U.K., The Associated Press reported.

Ukrainian authorities, who usually refrain from commenting on specific attacks, didn’t directly claim responsibility for the strike, but spokeswoman Natalia Humeniuk for the Ukrainian military’s Southern Command emphasized the importance of derailing Russia’s logistics in televised comments.

“We are destroying enemy plans, destroying the enemy’s capability to stand up against us,” she said.

Russia-appointed officials in Crimea said that while it could take weeks to fully repair the bridge, traffic could continue on one lane and noted that two other crossings are also available. But despite those attempts to downplay the damage, the attack has hurt the Russian military logistics at a time when Ukrainian forces are probing Russian defenses in the initial stages of a long-expected counteroffensive.

Ukrainian authorities have said that for the war to end, Russia must withdraw its forces from Crimea that it illegally annexed in 2014 as well as from the areas that Moscow seized since launching the full-scale invasion 16 months ago.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu warned earlier this week that Ukraine was planning to use U.S.-made HIMARS and U.K.-provided Storm Shadow missiles to attack Russian territory, including Crimea. He warned that use of those missiles against targets outside the combat zone would “trigger immediate strikes on the decision-making centers on the territory of Ukraine.”

But on Thursday, Shoigu sought to downplay the importance of West-supplied advanced weapons like the Storm Shadow missiles as he reported to Putin during a session of Russia’s Security Council.

“We understand that the quantity that will be delivered in 2023 and that has already been delivered will not significantly affect the course of hostilities,” Shoigu said.

Neither Putin, nor Shoigu made any mention of the attack on the Chongar bridge in their televised comments at the start of a security meeting.

The Crimean Peninsula is connected to mainland Ukraine by an isthmus about 9 kilometers (6 miles) wide and several bridges.

An October truck bomb explosion on the 19-kilometer (12-mile) Kerch Bridge over a strait between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov caused its partial collapse. It took Russia months to repair the bridge, which is Europe’s longest and a symbol of Moscow’s claims on Crimea. (ap/ez)