Moscow says Ukraine struck a third bridge over Seym river in Russia's Kursk region

[August 19, 2024]  MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian investigator said on Monday that Ukraine had struck and damaged a third bridge over the Seym river in Russia's Kursk region a day earlier, where Moscow's troops have been battling Kyiv's forces for nearly two weeks. 

A satellite image shows a strategic bridge over the Seym River that has been destroyed, in Zvannoe, Kursk Region, Russia, August 18, 2024. Planet Labs Inc./Handout via REUTERS/File Photo

"On August 18, as a result of targeted shelling with the use of rocket and artillery weapons against residential buildings and civilian infrastructure in the Karyzh village...a third bridge over the Seym river was damaged," a representative for Russia's Investigative Committee said.

The video statement was posted on Russian state TV anchor Vladimir Solovyov's Telegram channel.

Russian forces have been fighting Ukrainian troops in Kursk region since Aug. 6, when thousands of Kyiv's troops smashed through Russia's western border in a major embarrassment for the Russian military top brass.

The Russian foreign ministry said on Friday that Ukraine had used Western rockets, likely U.S.-made HIMARS, to destroy a bridge over the Seym river in the Glushkovo district.

In a separate video statement posted to Solovyov's Telegram channel on Sunday, a representative for Russian investigators said a second bridge over the Seym near the village of Zvannoe in Kursk region used to evacuate civilians had been "damaged" by U.S.-made HIMARS.

Ukraine's air force commander claimed on Sunday that the Ukrainian air force had destroyed that second bridge, thus limiting the supply capacity of a Russian group opposing the Ukrainian advance.

Military analysts say there are three bridges in the area of the Ukrainian army's offensive through which Russia supplies its forces.

Yuri Podolyaka, an influential Ukrainian-born, pro-Russian military blogger, said on Sunday that Ukraine was likely to try to take control in the coming days of another strategic bridge, over the Psyol River.

(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Anastasia Teterevleva and Lucy Papachristou; Editing by Andrew Osborn)

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