Ukraine Destroys Two Bridges Within Russian Mainland: Reports

August 18, 2024

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine has destroyed a key bridge in Russia’s Kursk region and attacked a second nearby bridge, less than two weeks after a surprise border incursion that disrupted Russian supply routes and possibly signaled plans for troops to set up positions.

A pro-Kremlin Russian military blogger acknowledged that the destruction of the first bridge over the Seym River near the city of Grushkovo will hinder supplies for Russian forces fighting off a Ukrainian advance, but Moscow can still use piers and smaller bridges in the area. Ukrainian Air Force commander Lt. Gen. Mykola Oreshchuk on Friday released a video showing the bridge being cut in two by a Ukrainian air strike.

Less than two days later, Ukrainian forces attacked a second Russian bridge, according to Oleschuk and Russian regional governor Alexei Smirnov.

As of Sunday morning, there were no official reports on where exactly the second bridge attack took place. A Russian Telegram channel claimed that a second bridge in the village of Zvanoye over the Seim River had been attacked.

The attack left only one bridge intact in the area, according to the Russian news site Mash. The Associated Press could not immediately verify these claims, but if confirmed, the Ukrainian attack would further complicate Moscow’s attempts to replenish forces and evacuate civilians in Kursk.

Grushkovo is located about 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) north of the Ukrainian border and about 16 kilometers (10 miles) northwest of the main Kursk battlefield. Zvanoye is 8 kilometers (5 miles) further northeast.

Kiev has remained tight-lipped about the scope and objectives of its planned lightning invasion of Russia, its biggest since World War Two, which took the Kremlin by surprise and left dozens of villages and hundreds of prisoners falling into Ukrainian hands.

Ukrainian forces have advanced deep into the Kursk region from several directions, meeting little resistance and causing confusion and panic. Ukrainian military commander-in-chief Gen. Oleksandr Shirskyi claimed last week that his forces had advanced across 1,000 square kilometers (390 square miles) of the Kursk region, but it was not possible to independently verify what area Ukrainian forces actually control.

But the attack on the bridge, apparently aimed at thwarting a Russian counterattack at Kursk, could mean that Kiev is trying to gain a foothold in the region, or at least signal to Moscow that it intends to do so.

Analysts say Ukraine could try to consolidate its territorial gains inside Russia, but that would be a risky move given Kiev’s limited resources and supply lines deep inside Kursk that are vulnerable to Russian attack.

Second region declares state of emergency as Ukrainian forces push deeper into Russia https://t.co/8Y0DimdsWV

— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) August 15, 2024

The incursion boosted Ukrainian morale, already slumped by a failed counteroffensive last summer and months of steady Russian advances in the eastern Donbas region, and demonstrated its ability to take the initiative.

This is similar to the Ukrainian blitzkrieg led by Sirushky from September 2022, in which Ukrainian forces took advantage of Russia’s manpower shortages and lack of field fortifications to retake control of the northeastern Kharkiv region.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy late Saturday called on Kiev’s allies to lift remaining restrictions on the use of Western weapons on targets deep inside Russia, including Kursk, saying his country’s military could “deprive us of the ability to go in and destroy” if it were given sufficient long-range capabilities.

“It is vital that our partners remove the barriers that prevent us from weakening Russia’s positions in the way that this war demands. … The bravery of our soldiers and the tenacity of our combat brigades make up for the lack of critical resolve of our partners,” Zelenskyy said in a post on the social platform X.

The Russian Foreign Ministry and pro-Russian bloggers have alleged that a US-made HIMARS launcher was used to destroy the bridge over the Seim River. These claims could not be independently verified.

Ukrainian leaders have repeatedly sought approval in recent months for long-range attacks on Russian air bases and other infrastructure, including modified versions of Soviet-era “glide bombs” that have devastated Ukraine’s industrial east, to be used to strike Ukrainian energy facilities and other civilian facilities.

Moscow also appears to have stepped up its attacks on Kiev, hitting the city with a ballistic missile early on Sunday for the third time this month, Kiev’s military governor said. In a Telegram post, Serhiy Popko said a “near-identical” attack in the capital in August “likely used” a KN-23 missile supplied by North Korea.

Popko said there was another attack aimed at Kiev, this time using Islander cruise missiles, at about 7 a.m. He said Ukraine’s air defense forces shot down all targets fired in two attacks on the city on Sunday morning.