Ukraine has destroyed a third bridge used to prop up Russian military logistics in the Kursk border region, according to new reports, as Moscow wrestles to stop Kyiv’s advance nearly two weeks into the surprise incursion.
Ukraine took out another bridge across the River Seym in Kursk, Russian Kremlin-backed and independent sources reported Monday.
Speculation put the location of the bridge around the village of Karyzh, west of Glushkovo and Zvannoye. Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email. A Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson declined to comment.
These reports came a day after Ukraine’s air force commander, Lieutenant General Mykola Oleshchuk, said Kyiv had destroyed a bridge in Kursk, helping to “deprive the enemy of logistical capabilities.”
A Russian Telegram channel chalked up the attack on the bridge in the Kursk village of Zvannoye to U.S.-supplied HIMARS, or High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems. There “is only one bridge left in the district,” the account wrote on Sunday.
Ukrainian Defense Ministry Press Office via AP
Maria Zakharova, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said on Friday that Ukraine “completely destroyed” a separate bridge over the Seym River near the Kursk border village of Glushkovo with “Western-made weapons, probably American HIMARS.”
Thousands of Ukrainian troops crossed over into Kursk earlier this month, launching the most significant advance into Russian territory since the start of full-scale war nearly two and a half years ago. Despite transferring reserves to the border region, Moscow has struggled to stop Ukraine’s advances and Kyiv says it is consolidating its footprint across the border.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday that Ukraine controlled at least 80 settlements in Kursk.
⚡️Russian “war correspondents” are claiming the destruction of the third and last bridge over the Seym river in the Korenevsky district of Russia’s Kursk region.
The largest bridge on this part of the front – in the village of Glushkovo – was destroyed by the Ukrainian Armed… https://t.co/arnVmy4bN4
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) August 19, 2024
Ukraine has said it does not wish to keep hold of the territory it controls in Kursk, but hopes to cut off Russian logistics supporting the war effort elsewhere along the front line and shield its territory from highly destructive aerial attacks.
Kyiv’s attacks have largely focused on the town of Sudzha, which Ukraine said it had fully captured last week, and around the settlement of Korenovo, northwest of Sudzha. Glushkovo and Zvannoye sit southwest of Korenovo, closer to the Ukrainian border.
A Russian military blogger said on Saturday that “the logistical situation continues to deteriorate” around Glushkovo, with Ukraine “striking at the remaining bridges” across the Seym River. However, the Russian military was already making use of pontoons to cross the river, the account said.
Russian independent news outlet Astra reported on Monday that Ukraine’s striking of the third bridge had “cut off” Russian forces near Glushkovo from their supply routes, with civilians evacuated from the area by boat.
Russian regional authorities gave the order to evacuate the Glushkovo district, southwest of the town of Korenovo, last week.
A Russian military blogger said Monday that it was “expected” that Ukrainian forces would be recorded in the southwest of Glushkovo after “the destruction of several bridges” over the Seym.
