Setback for Moscow

Ukrainians destroy last bridge in Kursk region

The Ukrainian army published this picture of a destroyed bridge over the Seim River on Sunday.

(Bild: AP)

In the Russian region of Kursk, the last bridge in an important section of the front has apparently been destroyed by the Ukrainian army. This makes it considerably more difficult to supply Moscow's troops.

Ukraine can claim another success in the Kursk offensive, which has been keeping the Russian army on its toes for two weeks. "The enemy has destroyed the last stationary bridge over the Sejm River in the village of Karish," explained Russian war correspondent Yuri Podolyak on Telegram. According to the Reuters news agency, a representative of the Russian Investigative Committee reported: "On August 18, a third bridge over the Sejm River was damaged by targeted shelling of residential buildings and civilian infrastructure in the village of Karyzh with rocket and artillery weapons."

This article shows a map of the region with the locations of the three destroyed bridges:

Russian localities now cut off from rest of territory
Kursk Governor Alexei Smirnov reported on Friday that a strategically important highway bridge had been shot at with a US Himars-type multiple rocket launcher and subsequently destroyed by a glide bomb strike. Dozens of villages in the border region were thus cut off from the rest of the territory.

The Ukrainian army published this picture of a destroyed bridge over the Seim River on Sunday.

(Bild: AP)

On Sunday, the destruction of another bridge was reported the day before: The structure near the village of Zvannoe, which was being used to evacuate civilians, had been hit. A bitter blow for Moscow: the supply capacity of the Russian troops trying to repel the attack was restricted as a result, as a commander of the Ukrainian air force explained.

Russia threatens to encircle troops
The third and final bridge over the Seim is now also out of action. This will make it increasingly difficult to transport heavy military equipment - which will also make it more difficult to move Russian soldiers into the contested area. The situation for Moscow is thus becoming increasingly delicate: "If the Russian soldiers don't leave, they will be surrounded. If they withdraw, they will leave a large area without protection," explained military observer Jan Matveyev.

With the offensive near Kursk, which has been going on for two weeks, Ukraine has shifted the war against the Russian invasion to the enemy's territory for the first time. It is also the first time since the Second World War that foreign troops have been deployed on Russian territory. Despite this, the Russian army and security authorities are struggling to fight back.

Russian soldiers fighting back in the Kursk region

(Bild: APA/Russian Defense Ministry Press Service)

Intensive shelling also on Ukrainian territory
The Ukrainian defenders are still under heavy pressure on their own territory. The General Staff in Kiev reported 145 Russian assault attacks along the front on Sunday. Of these, 45 attacks alone were directed against the Pokrovsk section of the front in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk. These figures cannot be verified in detail, but provide an indication of the intensity of the fighting.

According to the Ukrainian air force, it repelled all eleven combat drones used by the Russian army during the night. For its part, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported that several Ukrainian drones had been shot down.