Moscow says Ukraine has attacked a third bridge in the Kursk region as Kyiv continues its incursion into Russia launched two weeks ago.
It said Ukraine’s forces struck and damaged the bridge over the Seym river in the region on Sunday.
Details of the alleged attack were revealed in a video statement from a representative of Russia's investigative committee.Ukraine has not yet commented on the third reported strike.
It comes after Kyiv's air force chief said on Sunday that his forces had destroyed two bridges in recent days to weaken enemy logistics.
“Minus one more bridge,” Ukrainian Air Force commander Lt Gen Mykola Oleschuk posted on social media with footage of the strike.
Gen Oleschuk added: “Ukrainian Air Force aviation continues to deprive the enemy of logistical capabilities with precision airstrikes, which significantly affects the course of hostilities.”
The strike is reported to have taken place at Zvannoe, but this has not been independently verified.
It came as President Volodymyr Zelensky said for the first time that the aims of the military incursion into Kursk included the creation of a “buffer zone” to stop Russian attacks.
A video said to show the scond bridge being hit showed a growing large cloud of smoke over the bridge and one of its sections appears to be destroyed. It is not clear exactly when the strike took place, but is thought to have taken place on Sunday.
A Russian military blogger close to the defence ministry who goes by the name “Rybar” said on the Telegram messaging app that the bridge was heavily damaged, but did not collapse and can be used by pedestrians and - in some cases - light vehicles.
It comes after the destruction of a first bridge, near the town of Glushkovo, was reported on Friday.
Earlier, military analysts had identified three bridges in the area used by Russia to supply its forces.
While on Monday the state-run TASS news agency reported that more than 121,000 people have been evacuated from nine border districts in Kursk.
On Sunday in an evening address,President Zelensky said: “Our operation in the Kursk region is still inflicting losses on the Russian army and the Russian state, their defence industry and their economy.”
He stated that “this is more than just defence for Ukraine” and said that the aim was to “destroy as much Russian war potential as possible and conduct maximum counter offensive actions”.
This would include “creating a buffer zone on the aggressor’s territory”, he added, in an effort to prevent further Russian attacks into Ukraine.
He also called for the delivery of weapons from Western allies to be sped up.
“Regarding deliveries from our partners - need acceleration, we ask very much. War has no holidays,” Zelensky said.
On Monday Ukraine's air defence units said they had repelled an attack overnight from Russian forces, including on Kyiv, destroying all 11 drones that Moscow launched, targeting Ukraine's territory.
The drones were destroyed over the Mykolaiv, Cherkasy, Vinnytsia, Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Sumy and Donetsk regions, the air force said on the Telegram messaging app. Reuters' witnesses heard blasts in what sounded like air defence units at work on Kyiv's outskirts early on Monday.
There were no immediate reports of any damage due to the attack or falling drone debris.
