This photo taken on Aug. 16, 2024, during a media tour organized by Ukraine, shows a damaged statue of Soviet Union founder Vladimir Lenin in the Ukrainian-controlled Russian city of Sudzha, Kursk Region, amid Russian invasion of Ukraine. Kiev said on August 16, 2024, its invasion of Russian territory had gone ahead, saying it was aimed at forcing Russia to negotiate on “fair” terms, as Moscow’s troops announced new gains in eastern Ukraine.
Yan Dobronosov | Afp | Getty Images
The Russian Foreign Ministry said Ukraine used Western missiles, possibly US-made HIMARS, to destroy a bridge over the Seym River in the Kursk region, killing volunteers trying to evacuate civilians.
“For the first time, the Kursk region was hit by Western-made missile launchers, possibly American HIMARS,” Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said on the Telegram messaging app late Friday.
“As a result of the attack on the bridge over the Seym River in the Glushkovo region, it was completely destroyed and volunteers helping the evacuated civilian population were killed.”
Ukrainian army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Friday that Kiev forces were advancing between 1 and 3 kilometers (0.6 to 1.9 miles) in some areas in the Kursk region, 11 days after the invasion of Russia began.
Kiev claimed to have taken control of 82 settlements in an area of 1,150 square kilometers (440 sq mi) in the region since August 6. Reuters could not independently verify the accounts of anyone from the battlefield.
Russia accused the West of supporting and encouraging Ukraine’s first ground attack on Russian soil and said Kiev’s “terrorist invasion” would not change the course of the war.
The United States, which has said it cannot allow Russian President Vladimir Putin to win the war that began in February 2022, has so far viewed the surprise invasion as a defensive move that justifies the use of American weapons, officials in Washington said.
Russia called the invasion a “major provocation” and vowed to retaliate with a “worthy response,” more than 2-1/2 years since it launched a full-scale invasion of its smaller neighbor.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Friday that its troops repelled Ukrainian attacks in several areas, including the villages of Gordeevka, Russkoe Porechnoe and others.
Zelensky hailed Russia’s losses in the Kursk region as “very useful” for Ukraine’s defense.
“It’s about destroying the logistics of the Russian military and draining their reserves,” he said in an afternoon speech.
Ukrainian servicemen operate a tank on a road near the border with Russia, in Ukraine’s Sumy region, on August 14, 2024. The Ukrainian army entered Russia’s Kursk region on August 6, capturing dozens of settlements in the largest attack by a foreign military on Russian soil since World War II.
Roman Pilipey | Afp | Getty Images
The commander of the Kyiv Air Force Mykola Oleshchuk added on Telegram that the air force was an active part of the operation, targeting the enemy’s supply routes and logistics centers. Post video of bridge strike.
Kursk regional governor Alexei Smirnov said Ukraine destroyed a road bridge over the Shem River in the region’s Glushkovsky district.
Aim to the east
The fiercest fighting, however, has been underway in eastern Ukraine, where Russian troops have been closing in on the strategic center of Pokrovsk for months.
Analysts said distracting Russian forces from the east was one of the aims of Ukraine’s Kursk operation. But so far there has been no sign of a recession in the east.
Russian forces were 10 kilometers from the outskirts of Pokrovsk and about 6 kilometers from nearby Mirnokhrad, according to local officials.
“If the goal was to divert the Russian effort from Donbas, it has failed so far,” said Yohann Michel, a French military expert and researcher at the IESD Institute in Lyon, France.
He said Kiev was aiming to maximize the effect of the attack on Kursk, while Russia was trying to do the same in eastern Ukraine.
“He’s probably the first one to turn a blind eye and have to stop his own attack,” he said.
Zelensky said Ukraine was “not forgetting for a second” the east and promised new arms deliveries – beyond what was planned – to reinforce the positions.
