KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine has destroyed a key bridge in Russia's Kursk region and shelled a second nearby in a spectacular border crossing that began Aug. 6, cutting off supply lines, officials said Sunday.
The attacks on the bridge, apparently geared toward thwarting a Russian counter-advance on Kursk, could mean that Kyiv is trying to achieve a foothold within the region.
Pro-Kremlin military bloggers acknowledged that the destruction of the primary bridge over the Seim River near the town of Glushkovo will hamper supplies to Russian forces repelling the Ukrainian incursion, although Moscow can still deploy pontoons and smaller bridges. Ukrainian Air Force Commander Lt. Gen. Mykola Oleshchuk posted a video on Friday of an airstrike that cut the bridge in half.
Less than two days later, Ukrainian troops stormed a second bridge in Russia, based on Oleshchuk and Russian regional governor Alexei Smirnov.
As of Sunday morning, there was no official information on the precise location of the second bridge attack. However, Russian Telegram channels claimed that a second bridge over the Seim River within the village of Zvannoe had been hit.
According to Russian news site Mash, just one bridge remained intact within the region after the attacks. The Associated Press couldn’t immediately confirm these claims. If confirmed, the Ukrainian attacks would further complicate Moscow's attempts to accumulate its troops in Kursk and evacuate civilians.
Glushkovo is situated about 12 kilometers north of the Ukrainian border and about 16 kilometers northwest of the fundamental battle area in Kursk. Zvannoe is one other 8 kilometers northwest.
Ukraine could attempt to defend the conquered territories
Kiev has given little detail on the scope and purpose of its push into Russia with tanks and other armored vehicles, the most important attack on the country since World War II that took the Kremlin by surprise and left dozens of villages and tons of of prisoners in Ukrainian hands.
Ukrainians have pushed deep into the Kursk region in several directions, encountering little resistance and spreading chaos and panic as tens of 1000’s of civilians fled the realm. Ukraine's commander-in-chief, General Oleksandr Syrskyi, claimed last week that his troops had advanced across 1,000 square kilometers of the region, even though it has not been possible to independently confirm what exactly Ukrainian forces actually control.
Analysts imagine that Ukraine could attempt to consolidate its power positions in Russia, but given Kyiv's limited resources, this could be dangerous as its own supply lines extending far into Kursk could be in danger.
The incursion demonstrated Ukraine's ability to seize the initiative and boosted its morale, which had been weakened by a failed counteroffensive last summer and months of arduous Russian gains within the eastern Donbass region.
The invasion of Kursk was much like Ukraine's September 2022 lightning operation led by Syrsky, through which Ukrainian forces took advantage of an absence of Russian manpower and field fortifications to regain control of the northeastern Kharkiv region.
Zelenskyj asks for permission to penetrate deeper into Russia
On Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on Kyiv's allies to lift remaining restrictions on the usage of Western weapons to attack targets deeper inside Russia, including Kursk, saying his troops could deprive Moscow of “any opportunity to advance and cause destruction” in the event that they were granted sufficient long-range capabilities.
“It is crucial that our partners remove barriers that prevent us from weakening Russian positions in the way this war requires. … The courage of our soldiers and the resilience of our combat brigades compensate for the lack of essential decisions by our partners,” Zelensky said in a post on the social platform X.
The Russian Foreign Ministry and pro-Kremlin bloggers have claimed that American HIMARS missile launchers were used to destroy bridges on the Seim River. These claims haven’t been independently verified.
Ukraine's leadership has repeatedly requested authorization for long-range strikes on Russian air bases and other infrastructure to bomb Ukrainian energy facilities and other civilian targets, including upgraded Soviet-era “glide bombs” which have devastated Ukraine's industrial east in recent months.
Moscow also appears to have stepped up its attacks on Kyiv. On Sunday, town was attacked with ballistic missiles for the third time this month, based on the pinnacle of town's military administration. Serhii Popko said in a Telegram post that the “almost identical” attacks on the capital in August “most likely” used KN-23 missiles supplied by North Korea.
At around 7 a.m., one other attempted attack on Kiev followed, this time with Iskander cruise missiles, Popko said. Ukrainian air defenses shot down all missiles in each attacks on town, he said.
Fears in regards to the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant are increasing
In a separate development, the pinnacle of the United Nations nuclear watchdog said on Saturday that the safety situation on the Russian-occupied Zaporizhia nuclear power plant was deteriorating following reports of a drone attack nearby.
Rafael Grossi, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, called for “maximum restraint on all sides” after an IAEA team stationed at the facility plant reported that a drone-borne explosive device had detonated just outside the protected area.
According to Grossi's statement, the impact occurred “near the main water sprinkler pools” and about 100 meters from the one power line that supplies the plant. The IAEA team on the plant reported intense military activity in the realm last week, it said.
Ukraine has repeatedly claimed that Russia is planning an attack and blamed Ukrainian forces for it. Last summer, Zelensky warned of possible explosive devices that he said Moscow may need placed on the roof of the facility plant in an try to blackmail Ukraine.
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