Ukraine hits a second bridge on Russian territory

2024-08-18 17:50:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Ukraine has destroyed a key bridge in Russia's Kursk region and hit a second one, less than two weeks after a surprise cross-border attack on Russian territory, blocking Russian supply routes and possibly signaling that its troops will continue the incursion. Pro-Kremlin Russian military bloggers have admitted that the destruction of the first bridge, which spanned the Seim River near the town of Glushkovo, will hamper supplies to Russian forces.

The head of the Ukrainian Air Force, Lt. Mykola Oleshchuk, released a video on Friday of a Ukrainian airstrike that destroyed the bridge. Less than two days later, Ukrainian troops struck a second bridge in Russia, according to Mr. Oleshchuk and the Russian regional governor, Alexei Smirnov.

So far there have been no official announcements as to where exactly the second bridge attack took place. Russian sources on the Telegram app said a second bridge over the Seim, in the village of Zvannoe, had been hit. According to the Russian news site Mash, there is now only one functional bridge left in the Kursk area.

The Associated Press could not immediately verify the claims - but if confirmed, it means the Ukrainian attacks will further complicate Moscow's efforts to redeploy its forces in Kursk and evacuate civilians.

Kiev has not said what its objectives are with the Kursk attack, Russia's biggest since World War II, which caught the Kremlin by surprise. Ukrainian forces penetrated deep into the Kursk region in several directions, encountering little resistance and causing chaos and panic.

The bridge strikes are apparently intended to prevent a Russian counteroffensive in Kursk and could mean Kiev intends to have a presence in the region - or at least signal to Moscow that it plans to do so.

Analysts say that while Ukraine may try to consolidate its advances inside Russia, that would be a risky maneuver given Kiev's limited resources, because Kursk's deep supply lines would be exposed to Russian attacks. .

The incursion has boosted Ukraine's morale, which had been weakened by a failed counteroffensive last summer and advances by Russian forces in the eastern Donbass region.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged Kiev's allies to lift remaining restrictions on using Western weapons to strike targets deeper into Russia, including at Kursk, saying its troops could cripple Moscow "from its ability to advance and cause destruction" if given enough long-range weapons.

"It is essential that our partners remove the obstacles that do not allow us to weaken Russian positions. The bravery of our soldiers and the resilience of our combat brigades compensate for the lack of fundamental decisions by our partners," Mr. Zelenskyy said in a post on the X social platform.

Russia's Foreign Ministry and pro-Kremlin bloggers have claimed that US-made HIMARS missiles were used to destroy the bridges in Seim. These claims have not been independently verified./ VOA