War latest: Kyiv destroys key Russian bridge as Moscow redeploys troops in defence

Ukraine’s troops invading Russian border villages have destroyed a key bridge over the Syem river used by the Kremlin to send its troops critical supplies.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine’s incursion and capture of land in Russia’s Kursk region could eventually lead to a swap deal for Ukrainian regions occupied by Moscow.

The latest attack on the bridge near the Russian town of Glushkovo has cut off part of the local district, according to reports.

Mykhailo Podolyak, a key Zelensky adviser, said the counter incursion’s main aim was to get Moscow back on the negotiation table.

“In the Kursk region, we can clearly see how the military tool is being used objectively to persuade Russia to enter a fair negotiation process,” he posted on X.

Ukraine’s foreign ministry rubbished Moscow’s claims about Kyiv planning an attack on Russian nuclear power plants with “dirty bombs.”

Several state-controlled Russian media claimed Ukrainian troops were planning to attack the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) in Russia.

Kyiv’s foreign ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi called the claims “a surge of insane Russian propaganda.”

“Ukraine has neither the intention nor the ability to carry out any such actions. Russia must stop spreading dangerous lies,” Mr Tykhyi said.

He said Ukraine is a committed member of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and does not have any “dirty bombs.”

“Their scenario of accusing us of terrorism and the attack on the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant did not work. Now they are lying,” Andrii Kovalenko, the head of the counter-disinformation department at Ukraine’s national security and defence council wrote on Telegram.

Ukraine’s ongoing counter-offensive incursion into villages at the Russian border will help bring Moscow to the negotiation table, Mykhailo Podolyak, a top Ukrainian presidential adviser said on X.

“In the Kursk region, we can clearly see how the military tool is being used objectively to persuade Russia to enter a fair negotiation process,” he said, adding that Moscow would face “significant tactical defeats” from Ukraine’s incursion.

The move would also influence public opinion within Russia, the presidential advisor believes.

“An important tool is also the influence on public opinion within Russia, which is beginning to change when the war has come deep into their territory,” Mr Podolyak said.

“Negative changes in the psychological state of the Russian population will be another argument for the start of negotiations,” he said.

Russia’s foreign ministry said Ukraine had used Western rockets – likely US-made HIMARS – to destroy a key bridge over the Seym river in the Kursk region.

“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 kilometre 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 Aug 6.

Reuters could not independently verify either side’s battlefield accounts.

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 U.S. weaponry, officials in Washington said.

Russia is increasing the number of its secret fleet of oil ships to evade Western sanctions, according to a Ukrainian think tank.

Moscow has added 74 new oil ships to its existing fleet since the beginning of this year from about 300 under-the-radar ships operating since the beginning of 2023, according to The KSE Institute, a think tank within the Kyiv School of Economics.

Scientists are using artificial intelligence to detect such dark ships from satellite imagery.

“To put additional pressure on Russia’s ability to finance its war of aggression against Ukraine, we urge coalition governments to designate additional shadow fleet vessels,” the think tank said.

“Their removal would represent significant sunk costs while forcing Russia to rely more heavily on mainstream fleet ankers, which fall under the price cap,” it added.

A video circulated on social media from official and unofficial accounts shows about 100 Russian soldiers being taken prisoner in Kursk as Ukraine’s forces push deeper into Russia with surprise and secret attacks.

Footage shows Ukrainian troops raising flags over border villages and their military vehicles rolling down Russian streets.

Videos reveal that the buildup of troops and equipment in Russia caught the Kremlin off guard as tight-lipped Russian officials attempted to conceal the extent of their failure.

Russia’s defence ministry said about 300 Ukrainian soldiers along with nearly a dozen tanks and armoured vehicles were attacking two villages close to Kursk.