Ukrainian forces have reportedly destroyed another bridge in Russia’s Kursk Region, according to video showing the bridge was posted to Telegram by Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleschuk on Sunday,
“Minus one more bridge!” he wrote. “The aviation of the air force continues to deprive the enemy of its logistical capabilities with precise strikes from the air, which significantly affects the course of hostilities! Thanks again to the pilots for their professionalism and results!”
Russian news Telegram channel Mash reported on Sunday that the strike was carried out with U.S.-supplied HIMARS missiles and targeted a bridge over the Seim River near the village of Zvannoye.
The destruction of the bridge near Zvannoye comes just two days after Ukrainian forces reportedly destroyed another bridge over the Seim River in the Glushkovsky district of Kursk, 12 miles from the Ukrainian border and 42 miles northwest of the city of Sudzha.
Russian sources said Friday’s bridge attack was also carried out with American-made weapons.
“There is only one bridge left in the district near the village of Glushkovo,” Mash reported on Sunday.
Alexey Smirnov, the acting governor of Kursk, on Wednesday ordered the evacuation of Glushkovo, where Ukrainian soldiers have been filmed removing Russian flags from buildings.
Smirnov said this week that 121,000 people had left Kursk Oblast and that authorities would evacuate a total of 180,000 people from the region.
The destruction of the bridges and the evacuation form part of Ukraine’s wider incursion into Kursk, which it launched on August 6.
Commander of Ukrainian Air Force Mykola Oleshchuk/Telegram
On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Kyiv’s forces were now in control of over 70 settlements in Russian territory, and that “hundreds of Russian servicemen” had been captured, adding to the country’s prisoner-of-war “exchange fund.”
However, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday that its forces “continue to repel” the Ukrainian advance, and that Kyiv had lost some 2,600 troops since the beginning of hostilities in Kursk.
General Christopher Cavoli, who serves as NATO‘s supreme allied commander Europe, recently spoke about Ukraine’s offensive in Kursk and criticized Russia’s response.
“Russia is still piecing together its response to Ukraine’s invasion. So far, it has only been a rather slow and scattered reaction,” he said during an event hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations.
“Russia does not establish who has authority[…]The ministry of defense is responsible for military operations inside Ukraine, but not inside Russia, right?,” Cavoli added.
Newsweek reached out to the Russian Foreign Ministry via email for comment.