{"id":38377,"date":"2022-03-04T14:28:21","date_gmt":"2022-03-04T14:28:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2022\/03\/04\/what-a-ukrainian-cannon-on-a-bridge-might-tell-us-about-that-happened-there\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T20:19:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T20:19:29","slug":"what-a-ukrainian-cannon-on-a-bridge-might-tell-us-about-that-happened-there","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/flashpoints\/2022\/03\/04\/what-a-ukrainian-cannon-on-a-bridge-might-tell-us-about-that-happened-there\/","title":{"rendered":"What a Ukrainian cannon on a bridge might tell us about what happened there"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For military artillery crews, going against an armored vehicle well within range of that vehicle\u2019s gun is the thing of nightmares.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vehicles are more armored, can shoot on the move, typically can shoot faster and are designed for a close fight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Artillery howitzers, on the other hand, are meant to lob shots onto an enemy position miles away from the front line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in the desperate fighting around Kherson, Ukraine \u2015 now reportedly taken over by the Russians <\/a>\u2015 in the very first days of the Russian invasion, a Ukrainian artillery<\/a> crew may have faced off with Russian armored vehicles advancing on a hotly contested bridge outside the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though Kherson, Ukraine, fell into Russian hands on Wednesday, the defenders of the city, possibly including one brave howitzer crew, played a significant role in slowing down the Russian southern advance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Feb. 26 a CNN reporter<\/a> toured a bridge on the outskirts of Kherson, Ukraine, that just hours earlier had been the scene of some of the most intense fighting in the first few days of the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bridge was key chokepoint that, if taken, would allow the Russian military to cross the Dnieper River and into central and southern Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the time Nick Paton Walsh and the rest of his CNN crew arrived <\/a>at the bridge it had changed hands multiple times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the city saw the toughest fighting in the first few days of the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though it is impossible to tell without eyewitness accounts or video of the actual fighting, CNN footage shows one Ukrainian <\/i>152 mm 2A65 Msta-B, a Soviet-style howitzer, appearing to be lined up facing the strategically important bridge head on, surrounded by impacts and two abandoned artillery shells.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShelling continued back and forth, and through the smoke CNN could see what appeared to be armored vehicles on the bridge moving towards the Ukrainian side, although it was not possible to confirm who they belong to,\u201d Walsh said.<\/p>\n\n\n\t