An official appointed by Russia in Ukraine’s Kherson region said on Monday that plans to hold a referendum on joining Russia had been “suspended” due to the security situation, Russian state news agency TASS reported, Reuters reports.

According to TASS, Kyrylo Stremousov said that the vital Antoniv Bridge, which crosses the Dnipro River near the city of Kherson, can no longer be crossed by car after weeks of Ukrainian shelling.

Russian-appointed officials had previously suggested that referendums on joining Russia would be held in September in Kherson, as well as in neighboring Zaporizhia Oblast and the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, to coincide with local elections in Russia.

In March, Russian troops from neighboring Crimea captured almost the entire Kherson region.

Ukraine announced last week that it had launched a counteroffensive to retake the region after weeks of shelling targeting bridges and ammunition depots.

A series of assassinations of Russian-appointed officials in the region ended on August 30 with the shooting death of Oleksiy Kovalev, a former deputy from the party of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who had joined the Russian-backed administration in Kherson.

Almost a month ago, Zelensky warned that if Russia held referendums on joining Russia in the occupied territories, there would be no more negotiations with Ukraine or its international allies.

“If the occupiers continue to follow the path of pseudo-referendums, they will close any chance for talks with Ukraine and the free world, which the Russian side will definitely need one day,” the Ukrainian president said at the time.