Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday his forces were "strengthening" their positions in Russia's Kursk region, where Kyiv has been mounting a major ground offensive. His comments come a day after Russian officials accused Ukraine of using Western rockets to destroy a strategically important bridge over the Seym river in the Kursk region, two weeks into a surprise cross-border offensive that has resulted in some 200,000 people fleeing to safety. Read our blog to see how the day's events unfolded.
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Summary:
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Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday his forces were "strengthening" their positions in Russia's Kursk region two weeks into a major cross-border offensive.
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Russia's foreign ministry said late on Friday that Ukraine had used Western rockets, likely US-made HIMARS, to destroy a bridge over the Seym river in the Kursk region, killing volunteers trying to evacuate civilians.
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Ukrainian officials in the eastern city of Pokrovsk urged civilians to evacuate as fast as possible due to Russian troops “advancing at a fast pace”. The city lies on the intersection of a key road that supplies Ukrainian troops and towns across the eastern front. It has long been a target for the Russian army.
Yesterday's key developments:
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The Russian defence ministry said its forces captured Sergiivka, a frontline village some 15 kilometres away from the Ukrainian-held logistics hub of Pokrovsk.
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Kremlin aide Nikolai Patrushev claimed on Friday that the US-led NATO military alliance and "Western special services" were directly involved in the planning of Ukraine's attack on Russia's Kursk region. The US has maintained it had not received advance notice of the attack.
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Russia said it had repelled a night-time attack using 12 US-made missiles on the landmark Crimean Bridge built on the orders of President Vladimir Putin after Moscow annexed the peninsula.
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Russia said it had recaptured a first village from Ukrainian forces in Kursk region.
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Ukrainian army chief Oleksandr Syrsky says Kyiv has set up a military field office in the occupied areas of Russia's Kursk region, where his forces have seized 82 settlements and 1,150 square kilometres since the start of the Ukrainian incursion on August 6.
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Russia says it has evacuated 200,000 people so far from border regions.
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The UN rights office has asked Moscow to allow a visit to border areas affected by Ukraine's cross-border attack.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
