Ukraine said it had struck a second key bridge in the Kursk region, seeking to disrupt Moscow’s supply routes as Kyiv’s unprecedented incursion on Russian soil stretched through its second week. “Minus one more bridge,” Ukrainian air force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk said on Telegram, publishing an aerial video of a blast tearing through a bridge near the Russian town of Zvannoye. “The air force aviation continues to deprive the enemy of logistical capabilities with precision airstrikes,” he said. On Friday, Ukraine announced it had destroyed a separate bridge in the neighbouring town of Glushkovo.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said Ukraine’s military incursion into Russia’s Kursk region aims to create a buffer zone to prevent further attacks by Moscow across the border. It marked the first time the Ukrainian president had clearly stated the aim of the operation, which was launched on 6 August. Previously, he had suggested it aimed to protect communities in the bordering Sumy region from constant shelling. In his nightly address on, Zelenskiy said: “It is now our primary task in defensive operations overall to destroy as much Russian war potential as possible and conduct maximum counteroffensive actions. This includes creating a buffer zone on the aggressor’s territory – our operation in the Kursk region.”
Ukraine has captured more than 150 Russian prisoners of war on some days in the cross-border military operation in Kursk, according to Oleksii Drozdenko, the head of the military administration in the Ukrainian city of Sumy. “Sometimes there are more than 100 or 150 prisoners of war a day,” Drozdenko said. Many of the Russian troops who have been guarding the border are young conscripts. “They do not want to fight us,” he added.
The Institute for the Study of War has “observed claims” that Ukraine’s operation in Kursk has advanced through 800 square kilometres over six days. The initial incursion “attacked largely unprepared, unequipped, and unmanned Russian defensive positions along the border”, the ISW said in its daily report on the conflict, adding that Ukraine has continued to make rapid advances in Kursk “following the deployment of Russian reinforcements to the area.”
Russian forces took control of the village of Svyrydonivka in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, the TASS state news agency reported on Sunday, citing the defence ministry. The Guardian could not independently verify the battlefield report.
Russia on Sunday denied a report that Ukraine’s attack on the Kursk region had derailed indirect talks with Kyiv on halting strikes on energy and power targets, saying there had been no talks ongoing. The Washington Post reported on Saturday that Ukraine and Russia were set to send delegations to Qatar this month to negotiate a landmark agreement halting strikes on energy and power infrastructure on both warring sides. The Post said the agreement would have amounted to a partial ceasefire but that the talks were derailed due to Ukraine’s attack on Russian sovereign territory.
Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku on Sunday for a two-day state visit, Russian news agencies reported. Russian television broadcast images of the Russian president’s plane as it arrived in Baku in the evening. Azerbaijan is a close partner of Moscow but also a major energy supplier to western countries, comes against the backdrop of an unprecedented Ukrainian military offensive on Russian soil.
With Reuters
