A Russian missile strike sparked a blaze within the Ukrainian town of Sumy on Saturday, whilst Ukrainian forces persisted to push into Russia’s Kursk border area.Two folks had been injured within the Sumy strike, which additionally broken automobiles and within reach constructions, mentioned Ukraine’s State Emergency Provider. It mentioned that the hit had concerned an Iskander-Okay cruise missile and an aerial bomb.Ukraine’s air pressure additionally mentioned it had shot down 14 Russian drones in a single day, together with over the Kyiv area.
Destroyed Russian tanks lie on a roadside close to Sudzha, Kursk area, Russia, Friday, Aug. 16, 2024. This symbol used to be authorized through the Ukrainian Protection Ministry prior to e-newsletter.
AP
Remaining month, Russia introduced dozens of missiles at towns throughout Ukraine in an assault that killed no less than 31 folks and smashed right into a youngsters’s clinic in Kyiv, officers mentioned. Explosions rang out and black smoke may well be observed emerging from the centre of Kyiv, AFP reporters reported.
In the meantime, combating persisted in Russia’s Kursk area, the place Ukrainian troops were deployed since Aug. 6 in a bid to divert the Kremlin’s army focal point clear of the entrance line in Ukraine.Alexander Kots, army correspondent with the pro-Kremlin newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda, mentioned that Ukrainian drive in Kursk “isn’t weakening but.”
“In the primary sections of the ragged entrance, the location has stabilized. However there are spaces the place the enemy continues to take a look at to extend its bridgehead,” he wrote on his Telegram channel.Russian Overseas Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova mentioned Friday that Ukraine had destroyed a bridge around the Seim River within the Glushkovsky district with U.S.-made HIMARS rockets, marking their first use within the Kursk area.Zakharova’s observation could not be independently showed, even if the Washington-based assume tank the Institute for the Find out about of Struggle mentioned that geolocated photos revealed on Aug. 16 confirmed that the bridge had collapsed following the strike.Russian army bloggers mentioned that the destruction of bridges would obstruct deliveries of provides to Russian forces, however no longer lower them off utterly.
“Nobody has canceled the pontoons,” mentioned Kots, stressing that the Seim River is smaller than Ukrainian waterways such because the Dnieper River. “And there are nonetheless smaller bridges.”Russia has observed earlier raids on its territory within the battle, however the Kursk incursion is notable for its measurement, velocity, the reported involvement of battle-hardened Ukrainian brigades and the duration of time they’ve stayed inside of Russia. As many as 10,000 Ukrainian troops are concerned, in keeping with Western army analysts.The incursion, which Russian government say has ended in the evacuation of greater than 120,000 civilians, got here as a surprise to many, Yan Furtsev, an activist and member of native opposition birthday party Yabloko, informed the AP.”Nobody anticipated that this type of struggle used to be even imaginable within the Kursk area. For this reason there may be such confusion and panic, as a result of electorate are arriving (from front-line spaces) and they are scared, very scared,” he mentioned.Ukrainian forces have additionally captured numerous Russian troops as they’ve moved around the area.On Friday, the AP visited a detention middle in Ukraine, the site of which can’t be disclosed because of safety restrictions. Dozens of POWs had been observed, a few of them strolling with their arms tied at the back of their backs whilst a guard led them down a hall. Some had rations of a skinny soup with cabbage and onions.On Saturday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Ukrainian infantrymen and commanders for taking pictures Russian army workforce and mentioned the rustic’s “alternate fund” that it might use to cut price for the go back of Ukrainian POWs used to be being replenished.
“I thank all our infantrymen and commanders who’re taking pictures Russian army workforce, thereby advancing the discharge of our warriors and civilians held through Russia,” Zelenskyy mentioned in a publish on X.
A Ukrainian soldier walks previous at a town centre in Sudzha, Kursk area, Russia, Friday, Aug. 16, 2024. This symbol used to be authorized through the Ukrainian Protection Ministry prior to e-newsletter. (AP Photograph)
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