Major movement of Russian equipment identified in 25 August 2022 imagery near #Kherson crossing the #Dnipro river. About 100 military vehicles seen moving in imagery, mostly northwards toward Kherson, at 08:48 UTC (11:48 Kyiv time) on 25 August. 1/
At the edge of the image, we can see a convoy of at least 40 military vehicles waiting to move northward near the intersection at 46.6439 32.8159. 2/
10 more Russian military vehicles wait at the military pontoon ferry landing point at 46.6614 32.8037 3/
A pontoon ferry with 14 military vehicles is seen crossing southward in the #Dnipro river at 46.6723 32.7943, about to enter the Konka river. 4/
The northern military pontoon ferry landing point was empty - since the vehicles just departed - but nearby, west from the point, a queue of 24 more military vehicles were waiting to cross south at 46.6768 32.7844. 5/
Further west, we find 5 more Russian military vehicles on side of the road in Kherson at 46.6764 32.7308 6/
Looking at the north side of #AntonovskiyBridge we can see a Russian construction vehicle smoothing the ramp to the barge bridge at 46.6746 32.7199 /7
And finally, we can see on the south side of #AntonovskiyBridge extensive damage to the surface of the bridge at 46.6664 32.7204. Somewhere around 16 distinct holes are visible. /8
It seems the Russians are really struggling to move equipment, if they're forced to move so much by cargo truck via slow, vulnerable ferries. Without the bridges, their resupply operations are hanging by a very thin thread. 🧵✂️ /9
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After reviewing satellite photos from the past few weeks, I think @secretsqrl123 was right when he highlighted this location as the possible southern ferry point for the Russian military across the #Dnipro river. 1/
Imagery from 7 and 24 August show military vehicles near 46.660 32.804. Images from this month show military vehicles traveling along this dead-end road. This is likely the southern pontoon point for Russian military vehicles on the #Dnipro near #Kherson. 2/
The other end is 1.9 KM away at 46.6761 32.7902. This makes more sense than going further up the Konka river. 3/
Imagery from 7 August confirms that there are at least *4* pontoon ferries active around Kherson in the #Dnipro and Konka rivers. All four were visible at the same time today. Some context. 🧵1/
Sentinel-2 imagery from 7 August over Kherson was clear and showed all four pontoons in different locations at the same time. 2 were in use at the #AntonovskiyBridge, as expected, and two more were hiding in the Konka river, as discussed previously. 2/
The first hiding spot in the Konka river is at about 46.659 32.796. Pontoons can be seen stored here in Sentinel 2 imagery on 28 July, 2 August, and 7 August. This area was previously noticed by @DefMon3
The possible pontoon loading area (46.631 32.756) near #Oleshky#Kherson (spotted by @DefMon3 & @OAlexanderDK) was empty during a satellite pass on Thursday. However, one small craft was captured moving up the #Konka river at 46.6378 32.7684. It's a busy place. Read on... 1/
Looking along the #Konka for the past week, I think there was another pontoon hidden to the east of the launch point in the marsh on 2022-08-02 at 46.6362 32.7709. It's SPOT imagery, so it's not super sharp, but it looks like a pontoon measuring about 60x12m and small boat. 2/
Here are three views of the same area of the marsh. It's pretty clear that something was there on Aug 2nd, but not Aug 4th or July 27th. Might be another area to watch to see if pontoons are stored here regularly. 3/
Imagery from 1 August shows a Russian military ferry delivering 7 military vehicles near the rail bridge 5+ km upstream (46.6761 32.7902) of the known crossing point by the #AntonovskiyBridge by #Kherson. 3 vehicles appear ready to cross the other direction. 1/
Why are they moving military vehicles *here* instead of at the easier crossing point? What's the landing point on the south side of the river? There's no road directly across this point to support vehicles. 2/
One possibility is that they're ferrying them through the small Konka river to the highway by the city of #Oleshky. @DefMon3 and @OAlexanderDK highlighted a possible deployment point for the pontoons which was confirmed by 27 July imagery there. 3/
Update on #Darivka. @OAlexanderDK noticed that much of the imagery showed vehicles on or near the damaged bridge. It appears that small civilian vehicles have been using the bridge, despite the damage, while larger vehicles are using the pontoon bridge. 1/
Additionally, while comparing 27 and 30 June imagery we discovered a possible Russian military post located in a building in the village, based on visiting military vehicles and a tent set up behind the building at 46.7468, 32.8034 in #Darivka.
Since the bridge is still passable - will Ukrainian forces continue attempts to disable it? Will they strike at the pontoon that gets parked in the exact same spot over and over again? 🤔
On 23 July, Ukrainian forces struck the Daryivskyi bridge across the Ingulets river at #Daryivka, #Ukraine. Videos showed a pontoon bridge/barge providing an alternate crossing, with foliage used to camouflage the barge. 1/