Ukrainian forces have struck a critical bridge in Russia's Kursk region using Himars artillery, cutting off a key supply route for Russian troops.
The targeted bridge is located near Glushkovo, approximately 15 miles north of the Ukrainian border and 40 miles west of Sudzha, where Ukraine launched its initial cross-border operation last week.
Russia's foreign ministry said Ukraine had used Western rockets, likely US-made HIMARS, to destroy a bridge over the Seym river.
The Ukrainian president tweeted: “The frontline remains our top priority, particularly the Pokrovsk and Toretsk directions.
“The Kursk region operation—we are strengthening our positions and replenishing the exchange fund for Ukraine.
“I am grateful to each of our warriors.”
The bridge is near the town of Glushkovo and Ukraine’s military has made advances in the Kursk region in the past ten days.
The Kremlin said that the blast killed volunteers trying to evacuate civilians.
"For the first time, the Kursk region was hit by Western-made rocket launchers, probably American HIMARS," Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry, said late on Friday on the Telegram messaging app.
"As a result of the attack on the bridge over the Seym River in the Glushkovo district, it was completely destroyed, and volunteers who were assisting the evacuated civilian population were killed."
Ukrainian army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Friday that Kyiv's forces were advancing between 1 and 3 kilometres in some areas in the Kursk region, 11 days since beginning an incursion into Russia.
Kyiv has claimed to have taken control of 82 settlements over an area of 1,150 square kilometres in the region since August 6.
Russia has accused the West of supporting and encouraging Ukraine's first ground offensive on Russian territory and said Kyiv'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 he launched in February 2022, so far deems the surprise incursion a protective move that justifies the use of US weaponry, officials in Washington said.
