Moscow says destruction of bridge in western Russia will hinder the evacuation of civilians amid Ukrainian incursion.
Russia has accused Ukraine of utilizing Western rockets – seemingly made in the USA – to focus on a strategic bridge over the Seym River within the Kursk area, killing volunteers attempting to evacuate civilians.
Ukrainian forces hit the bridge within the Glushkovsky district of Kursk on Friday as they pushed ahead with their incursion into the territory in western Russia.
“For the first time, the Kursk region was hit by Western-made rocket launchers, probably American HIMARS,” Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Ministry of International Affairs, stated late on Friday on the Telegram messaging app.
“As a result of the attack on the bridge … it was completely destroyed, and volunteers who were assisting the evacuated civilian population were killed.”
Russia’s information company TASS launched the names of two volunteers it stated had been “murdered” within the assault.
Russian officers even have stated the destruction of the bridge will hinder the evacuation of civilians from the realm.
Ukraine’s incursion into Kursk comes simply months after the US and several other of its NATO allies stated in Might that that they had authorised Kyiv to make use of their weapons to assault targets inside Russia.
Al Jazeera’s Defence Editor Alex Gatopoulos stated Friday’s bridge bombing will make it tough for Russian forces to defend the realm towards Ukrainian advances and entry provides.
“Russian units there [are] caught between a river and a hard place – not very many places for them to go at the moment,” he stated.
“Now, there’s going to be an issue for the Russians because if they can’t supply these units with the ammunition that they need – and the fuel – then these units will be forced to retreat over the river.”
The Ukrainian army, which has been battling a Russian invasion since February 2022, launched the Kursk offensive earlier this month – a marketing campaign that has been described as the primary incursion by a overseas military into Russia since World Warfare II.
On Thursday, Ukraine stated it captured the Russian city of Sudzha, a strategic pure gasoline hub within the Kursk area.
Kyiv claims it has taken management of 82 settlements in Russia over an space of 1,150sq km (440sq miles) since August 6.
Ukrainian officers have stated the nation doesn’t intention to carry on to Russian territory. On Thursday, a Ukrainian presidential adviser stated the Kursk incursion might be “used to convince the Russian Federation to enter into a fair negotiation process”.
Marina Miron, a army analyst at King’s School of London, informed Al Jazeera that politically, Ukraine is hoping to make use of its Kursk operation “as a bargaining chip” in negotiations with Russia.
“It is important [that] Ukraine is saying they are not going to occupy that land,” stated Miron, noting that the incursion – and using Western gear on Russian oil – “has caused some concerns even if it was accepted that Ukraine is doing this operation to defend itself”.
Kyiv is also attempting to “relieve pressure” from the Donbas area by drawing Russian troops into Kursk, Miron stated.
That “doesn’t seem to be working as of yet, but it is clear that the Ukrainian forces are trying to entrench themselves in that region”, she added.
For its half, Moscow has insisted that it’s succeeding in repelling the Ukrainian offensive and inflicting heavy losses on Kyiv’s forces.
On Saturday, TASS reported – citing the Russia’s Ministry of Defence – that Russian forces shot down 10 HIMARS rockets and 35 Ukrainian drones, and killed 420 “enemy servicemen” prior to now 24 hours.
Reporting from Moscow, Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabbari highlighted that either side are releasing contradictory accounts of what’s taking place.
“Of course, it’s very difficult to independently verify what is happening on the ground,” Jabbari stated. “We are getting different versions of what is happening from the Ukrainian side as well as the counter-narrative coming out of the Russian Defence Ministry.”
