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Ukraine has continued its incursion into Russia as its troops launched a strike on another bridge in the Kursk region.
Volodymyr Zelensky‘s forces targeted a bridge crossing the River Seym near the village of Zvannoye – nearly 15km from the border – in a bid to disrupt Vladimir Putin‘s war machine.
Footage shared online today shows an aerial strike tearing through the bridge, leaving a large hole in the road that Kyiv said ‘deprives the enemy of logistical capabilities’.
It is believed to be the second crossing in the region to be targeted by Ukrainian troops in recent days, after another bridge on the same river was destroyed on Friday.
Sharing a video of the latest attack, the commander of Ukraine’s air force, Lieutenant General Mykola Oleshchuk said on Telegram: ‘Minus one more bridge. The Air Force aviation continues to deprive the enemy of logistical capabilities with precision air strikes.’
Video shared on social media shows smoke rising into the air after a bridge over the River Seym in Kursk was struck in an aerial attack
Ukraine has said the bridge was attacked in a ‘precision air strikes’ as Kyiv continues its efforts to disrupt Putin’s war machine
In the aftermath of the strike a large hole could be seen in the middle of the bridge in the Kursk region
Photos taken after the strike appear to show large holes in the road, leaving it impassable to large vehicles
It comes after a bridge along the same river was destroyed in an attack on Friday, with Ukraine claiming responsibility
It was not clear when the attack took place. Russian military bloggers shared photos of destruction from what appeared to be the same bridge dated Saturday.
Ukraine announced it had destroyed a separate bridge near the town of Glushkovo late on Friday, both of which cross the River Seym.
The destruction of both bridges has left Russia with limited options to cross the river in the Glushkovsky District, according to Russian military bloggers.
Kyiv claims to have taken control of more than 80 settlements including the key town of Sudzha in its lightning incursion, which caught the Kremlin off guard almost two and a half years into its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian defence ministry said on Saturday it had pushed back Ukrainian forces near three settlements in the Kursk region, and was searching for ‘mobile enemy groups’ trying to pierce deeper into the country.
In the process Kyiv has taken dozens of Russian soldiers captive , with Zelensky saying they would be used in prisoner swaps to bring home captured Ukrainian soldiers.
One such captured Kremlin soldier is Fyodor Smakilo, 22, who was only drafted eight months ago for a year’s worth of compulsory military service.
But now Smakilo has found himself in a prison cell along with 14 other Russian soldiers.
The young man told The Times: ‘It was like something from the Second World War. Our commander shouted at us, ‘No retreat”.
Russian officials on Friday accused Ukraine of striking a strategically important bridge just a couple dozen kilometres away from fighting in the Kursk region
Smoke billows from a bridge over the Seym river in the Glushkovo district after it was struck on Friday
Volodymyr Zelensky visits a training centre at an undisclosed location in Ukraine in November last year
Smakilo is one of several hundred prisoners Ukraine claims to have captured in its raid of Russia’s Kursk region.
While the incursion has delivered a major morale boost to Kyiv, it appears to have had little impact on the larger battles raging in Russian-occupied parts of eastern Ukraine.
Zelensky said on Saturday there had been ‘dozens of Russian assaults’ on Ukrainian positions near the towns of Pokrovsk and Toretsk, where Moscow has made a string of advances in recent weeks.
‘Our soldiers and units are doing everything to destroy the occupier and repel the attacks,’ Zelensky said, stressing the situation was ‘under control’.
On Friday Russia said its forces had captured another village near Pokrovsk, a Ukrainian-held logistics hub that lies on a road supplying troops and towns across the eastern front.
However, there has been mounting tension in the region with Putin vowing to expel Ukrainian forces from Kursk, while Belarus has stationed forces along its border with Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Russia also accused Ukraine on Saturday of dropping an explosive charge on a road near the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine.
An explosive, carried by a drone, detonated just outside of the protected area of the plant, which is the largest nuclear facility in Europe.
There was no confirmation as to who was responsible.
A fire at a cooling tower of the Russian controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Energodar, Southern Ukraine on August 11
Russia accused Ukraine on Saturday of dropping an explosive charge on a road near the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (pictured)
The impact site was close to the essential cooling ponds and about 100 metres from the Dniprovska power line, the only remaining 750 kilovolt line providing a power supply to the plant.
Rafael Grossi, who heads up the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), expressed his alarm at the latest incident.
‘I am extremely concerned and reiterate my call for maximum restraint from all sides,’ he said.
Russia’s defence ministry said that Ukraine is planning to strike the plant and use dirty bombs to scatter radioactive waste, and then blame this on Moscow.
But Kyiv dismissed the claims as ‘insane’ propaganda.
Last night, security expert Philip Ingram said: ‘What Russia may try to do is create a disaster at the nuclear power plant itself, with some sort of radiation leak and then blame it on Ukraine.’
General Sir Richard Shirreff, a retired British Army officer, said: ‘The Russians want the Ukrainians to stop. They have been humiliated, so of course they are going to start screaming about the plant.’
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