The commander of Ukraine’s air pressure says a second bridge in Russia’s Kursk area has been struck as Kyiv tries to weaken Russia’s fight operations within the space.
“Minus yet another bridge,” Air Power Commander Mykola Oleschuk wrote on Telegram on August 18. “The air pressure continues to deprive the enemy of logistical capabilities with exact air strikes, which considerably have an effect on the course of hostilities.”
Moscow has not but commented on the strike, which got here almost two weeks into Ukraine’s shock counteroffensive into Russia’s Kursk area, altering the dynamics of the two-and-a-half-year warfare and inflicting 120,000 folks to flee.
Russian army bloggers beforehand posted a picture of the primary bridge that was hit. It spans the Seym River close to the village of Zvannoye in Kursk.
In accordance with Russian safety officers, the destruction of that bridge reduce off a part of the Glushkov district, making it harder for the civilian evacuation out of the area.
On August 16, the Russian Overseas Ministry accused Ukraine of utilizing American long-range rockets to destroy a key bridge within the Glushkov district within the Kursk area, killing within the course of “volunteers” serving to to evacuate civilians.
Analysts say taking out bridges over the Seym is essential for Ukraine to make sure a safe flank to its offensive in Kursk by making it troublesome for Moscow to produce its troops south of the river.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy stated the Ukrainian operation in Kursk “remains to be inflicting losses on the Russian Military and the Russian state, their protection trade, and their economic system.”
He stated in his night handle on August 18 that his prime army commander, Colonel Basic Oleksandr Syrskiy, advised him that the state of affairs on the entrance is displaying “good outcomes” in all instructions.
As well as, he stated there have been “good and vital ends in the destruction of Russian tools close to Toretsk,” a city within the Donetsk area north of the regional capital.
Ukraine’s principal process now could be “to destroy as a lot Russian potential as doable and conduct most counterattack work.” This “additionally applies to the creation of a “buffer zone” due to the operation within the Kursk area, he added.
Aleksei Kulemzin, the Russian-appointed mayor of the occupied metropolis of Donetsk, stated a person and a girl have been killed by Ukrainian shelling on August 18, in line with Reuters. The declare couldn’t be independently verified and there was no speedy remark from Ukraine.
Combating elsewhere within the Donetsk area prompted Iryna Vereshchuk, Ukrainian deputy prime minister and minister of reintegration of the briefly occupied territories, to induce residents of Pokrovsk, Myrnohrad, and Selydove to evacuate.
“The state of affairs stays troublesome within the Pokrovsk space. Due to this fact, I attraction to the residents of settlements within the speedy neighborhood of the entrance line…please evacuate. If you’re not concerned within the protection of settlements, then it is best to depart for safer areas,” Vereshchuk stated.
In Russia, particles from a drone downed within the Rostov area induced a fireplace at a diesel gasoline storage facility in an industrial warehouse within the early hours of August 18, regional Governor Vasily Golubev wrote on Telegram.
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He stated firefighting models have been placing out the fireplace within the Proletarsk district and added that there have been no casualties.
The Basic Employees of the Ukrainian army stated its forces hit a facility within the Rostov area the place oil and oil-products utilized by the Russian army are saved. No less than two fires have been recorded on the territory of the ability, the Basic Employees stated.
In Ukraine, authorities within the Kharkiv area stated a 52-year-old girl was injured in Kupyansk on account of shelling by the Russian Military. Non-public properties have been additionally broken, the native prosecutor-general’s workplace stated.
As well as, a close-by village was shelled, damaging tools belonging to a utility firm. There have been no casualties, the press service of the prosecutor-general’s workplace stated.
In accordance with preliminary knowledge, the Russian Military used rocket-propelled grenades within the assault.
The Russian Protection Ministry stated its air defenses had intercepted 5 Ukrainian drones in a single day over Belgorod, Kursk, and Rostov. Kyiv doesn’t normally touch upon stories of drone assaults.
In the meantime, the pinnacle of Kyiv’s army administration, Serhiy Popko, stated on August 18 that Russia had launched its third ballistic missile in opposition to the Ukrainian capital this month.
He added that Russian forces had then launched a cruise missile towards Kyiv.
Popko stated on Telegram that the Russians had doubtless used a KN-23-type North Korean ballistic missile to focus on the Ukrainian capital.
The pinnacle of Kyiv’s regional army administration, Ruslan Kravchenko, stated two personal homes have been destroyed within the assault and dozens of different properties have been broken. There have been no accidents reported, he stated.
Ukraine’s air pressure stated earlier that it had downed eight drones and 5 missiles in complete over the Kyiv, Sumy, and Poltava areas.