KYIV, Ukraine -- Ukrainian forces have struck and seriously damaged a bridge that is key for supplying Russian troops in southern Ukraine, a regional official said Wednesday.

Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the Moscow-backed temporary administration for the Russia-controlled southern Kherson region, said the Ukrainian military struck the bridge across the Dnipro River with missiles Wednesday, scoring 11 hits.

He said in remarks carried by the Interfax news agency that the bridge sustained serious damage but it wasn't closed for traffic.

“The bridge is in poor condition now,” Stremousov said, according to Interfax. “The bridge wasn't closed, traffic across it is still continuing, but the situation is serious.”

Stremousov said that the Ukrainian forces used the U.S.-supplied HIMARS multiple rocket launchers to strike the bridge, adding that some of them were intercepted by Russian air defenses.

Wednesday's shelling of the Antonivskyi Bridge was the second in as many days. It was lightly damaged by Ukrainian shelling a day earlier, according to the Moscow-backed authorities in Kherson.

Early in the war, Russian troops quickly overran the Kherson region just north of the Crimean Peninsula that Russia annexed in 2014. They have faced Ukrainian counterattacks, but have largely held their ground.

The 1.4-kilometer (0.9-mile) bridge is the main one across the Dnieper River, and if it's made unusable it would be hard for the Russian military to keep supplying its forces in the region amid repeated Ukrainian attacks.

The British Defense Ministry said Wednesday that the bridge was likely still usable after the Ukrainian strikes, but it is a "key vulnerability for Russian Forces.”

“It is one of only two road crossing points over the Dnieper by which Russia can supply or withdraw its forces in the territory it has occupied west of the river,” it added. “Control of Dnieper crossings is likely to become a key factor in the outcome of fighting in the region.”