Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky mentioned Saturday his forces had been “strengthening” their positions in Russia’s Kursk area, the place Kyiv has been mounting a serious 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 Kyiv seeks to disrupt provide routes and the motion of Moscow’s troops within the space.
Ukrainian military chief Oleksandr Syrsky “reported on the strengthening of the positions of our forces in the Kursk region and the expansion of stabilised territory”, Zelensky mentioned in a publish on Telegram.
“As of this morning, we have replenished the exchange fund for our country,” Zelensky mentioned, referring to Russian troopers Ukraine has captured for use in future prisoner swaps.
“I thank all the soldiers and commanders who are taking Russian soldiers prisoner and thus bringing the release of our soldiers and civilians held by Russia closer,” Zelensky mentioned.
Kyiv claims to have taken management of greater than 80 settlements within the lightning incursion, which caught the Kremlin off guard nearly two and a half years into its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian defence ministry mentioned on Saturday it had pushed again Ukrainian forces close to three settlements within the Kursk area, and was looking for “mobile enemy groups” attempting to pierce deeper into the nation.
– BRIDGE ‘COMPLETELY DESTROYED’ –
Russian officers on Friday accused Ukraine of placing a strategically necessary bridge only a couple dozen kilometres away from preventing within the Kursk area.
The area’s governor, Alexei Smirnov, mentioned on Friday night the bridge was within the Glushkovsky district, some 11 kilometres (seven miles) away from the border.
An aerial video revealed by Ukrainian air power commander Mykola Oleshchuk appeared to point out the bridge being hit by a projectile at excessive velocity earlier than collapsing in a cloud of smoke.
“Ukrainian pilots are conducting precision strikes on enemy strongholds, equipment concentrations, as well as on enemy logistics centres and supply routes,” he mentioned on Telegram.
Russian international ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova mentioned the bridge was “completely destroyed” and that “volunteers providing assistance to the evacuated civilian population were killed”.
“All those responsible for these inhumane acts will be severely punished,” she mentioned.
Russia individually accused Ukraine on Saturday of dropping an explosive cost on a highway close to the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear energy plant in southern Ukraine.
The plant, which was seized by Russia’s forces early within the battle, has come beneath repeated assaults that either side have accused one another of finishing up.
Russia in the meantime attacked at the very least 4 Ukrainian areas on Saturday, based on officers, together with the northeastern area of Kharkiv, the place prosecutors mentioned shelling killed a 49-year-old girl.
– ‘UNDER CONTROL’ –
While the incursion has delivered a serious morale enhance to Kyiv, it seems to have had little affect on the bigger battles raging in Russian-occupied components of jap Ukraine.
Zelensky mentioned on Saturday there had been “dozens of Russian assaults” on Ukrainian positions close to the cities of Pokrovsk and Toretsk, the place Moscow has made a string of advances in latest weeks.
“Our soldiers and units are doing everything to destroy the occupier and repel the attacks,” Zelensky mentioned, stressing the state of affairs was “under control”.
Russia mentioned Friday its forces had captured one other village close to Pokrovsk, a Ukrainian-held logistics hub that lies on a highway supplying troops and cities throughout the jap entrance.
Russian forces have been inching in the direction of the city for months, taking a string of tiny villages over the previous weeks.
The head of Pokrovsk’s navy administration, Sergiy Dobryak, warned on Thursday that Russia was a bit of over 10 kilometres from the outskirts of the town and urged remaining residents to evacuate.
Source: www.anews.com.tr