Moscow has confirmed that Ukrainian forces had damaged a third bridge after striking two others used to supply troops. Ukraine has not yet commented on the third reported strike in Kursk.
A representative for Russia’s Investigative Committee said, “ On August 18, a third bridge over the Seym river was damaged. It was a result of targeted shelling with the use of rocket and artillery weapons against residential buildings and civilian infrastructure in the Karyzh village.”
Ukraine said on Monday that it was achieving its goals in its two-week-old incursion into Russia’s Kursk region.
Kursk has seen Russian forces fighting Ukrainian forces since August 6. Thousands of Kyiv’s troops smashed through Russia’s western border. It has seized over 80 settlements in an area of more than 1,150 square km in Kursk since. This is the biggest invasion of Russia since World War Two.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the assault on the Kursk is aimed at carving out a buffer zone and wearing down Moscow’s war machine. This comes in more than two years since Russia’s full-scale invasion.
On Sunday, Ukraine claimed that their air force destroyed a second bridge over the Seym river to limit the supply capacity of Russian groups opposing Ukranian advances.
Yuri Podolyaka, an influential Ukrainian-born, pro-Russian military blogger, said on Sunday that Ukraine was likely to try to take control in the coming days of another strategic bridge, over the Psyol River.
UKRAINE DESTORYED 3RD BRIDGE IN KURSK: RUSSIA
As Ukrainian forces try to push further into Russia’s Kursk region in a cross-border offensive. Russia is making steady gains in twin pushes towards Toretsk and Pokrovsk.
Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said on Monday that Moscow was not ready to hold peace talks with Ukraine for now given Kyiv’s attack on Russia’s Kursk region. However, Russia was not withdrawing its earlier peace proposals, he added.
(With inputs from Reuters)
