Kiev claimed management of greater than 80 settlements within the lightning invasion. (doc)
Kyiv:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky mentioned on Saturday that his troops have been “reinforcing” their positions in Russia’s Kursk area, the place Kiev has launched a large floor offensive for greater than 11 days.
His feedback got here a day after Moscow accused Ukraine of destroying a key bridge over a river within the border area as Kiev sought to disrupt provide routes and the motion of Moscow’s troops within the space.
Zelensky posted on Telegram that Ukrainian Military Chief of Workers Alexander Silsky “reported on the strengthening of the place of our troops within the Kursk area and the growth of secure territories.”
“As of this morning, we’ve got replenished the nation’s alternate funds,” Zelensky mentioned, referring to Russian troopers captured by Ukraine for future prisoner exchanges.
“I thank all troopers and commanders who captured Russian troopers, thereby bringing nearer the discharge of our troopers and civilians held by Russia,” Zelensky mentioned.
Kiev claimed management of greater than 80 settlements in a lightning incursion that caught the Kremlin off guard practically two and a half years after it launched a sweeping invasion of Ukraine.
Russia’s Protection Ministry mentioned on Saturday it had pushed again Ukrainian troops close to three settlements within the Kursk area and was trying to find “cell enemy teams” attempting to penetrate deeper into the nation.
Bridge ‘utterly destroyed’
Russian officers on Friday accused Ukraine of attacking a strategically essential bridge only a few dozen kilometers from combating within the Kursk area.
The bridge is positioned within the Glushkovsky district, about 11 kilometers (7 miles) from the border, the area’s governor, Alexei Smirnov, mentioned on Friday night.
An aerial video launched by Ukrainian Air Pressure Commander Mykola Oreshchuk appeared to indicate the bridge being hit by high-velocity projectiles earlier than collapsing in smoke.
“Ukrainian pilots are finishing up precision strikes towards enemy strongholds, tools concentrations, in addition to enemy logistics facilities and provide routes,” he mentioned on Telegram.
Russian Overseas Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova mentioned the bridge was “utterly destroyed” and “volunteers offering help to evacuate civilians have been killed.”
“All these answerable for these inhumane acts might be severely punished,” she mentioned.
Russia individually accused Ukraine on Saturday of dropping explosives on a highway close to the Zaporozhye nuclear energy plant in occupied southern Ukraine.
The manufacturing facility was occupied by Russian troops early within the warfare and has since been attacked a number of occasions with accusations from either side.
Russia struck a minimum of 4 Ukrainian areas on Saturday, together with the northeastern area of Kharkiv, the place prosecutors mentioned shelling killed a 49-year-old girl, officers mentioned.
“Beneath management”
Whereas the invasion was an enormous increase to morale in Kiev, it seems to have had little affect on the large-scale combating that has damaged out in Russian-occupied jap Ukraine.
Zelensky mentioned on Saturday that Russia had launched “dozens of assaults” on Ukrainian positions close to the cities of Pokrovsk and Toletsk, the place Moscow has made a sequence of advances in latest weeks.
“Our troopers and troops are doing all the things they’ll to destroy the occupiers and repel assaults,” Zelensky mentioned, stressing that the scenario “is below management.”
Russia mentioned on Friday that its forces had captured one other village close to Pokrovsk, a Ukrainian-controlled logistics hub on the highway that provides troops and cities on the jap entrance.
Russian troops have been advancing in town for months, seizing a sequence of small villages prior to now few weeks.
Sergei Dobriak, head of the Pokrovsk Navy Administration, warned on Thursday that Russia was simply over 10 kilometers away from the outskirts of town and urged remaining residents to evacuate.
(Apart from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is printed from a syndicated feed.)
