Ukraine has destroyed a critical bridge and appears to have targeted at least one more in Russia’s western Kursk region as it tries to sever Russian supply lines and consolidate its territorial gains, a dozen days into its startling cross-border offensive.
Analysts say the destruction of the bridge — which spanned the Seym River near the town of Glushkovo, about 10 miles west of the battle zone in Kursk — could hamper Russia’s response to the Ukrainian attack by making it harder to move troops and materiel, although there are alternative routes.
The destruction of the bridge was reported by both Kyiv and Moscow.
Lt. Gen. Mykola Oleshchuk, the commander of Ukraine’s Air Force, posted a video on social media late Friday showing the bridge’s destruction. The video captured a large explosion tearing the bridge in two near a river embankment.
“Ukrainian pilots are conducting precision strikes on enemy strongholds, equipment concentrations, as well as on enemy logistics centers and supply routes,” General Oleshchuk said.
Analysts say the destruction of the Glushkovo bridge points to a commitment by Ukraine to a sustained fight in western Russia. By trying to disrupt Moscow’s logistical lines, they say, Ukraine may be preparing for a prolonged campaign to strengthen and possibly expand its positions in the area.
Ukraine’s incursion into Russia began early last week with a surprise cross-border assault that many believed would be short-lived. But after achieving quick success in the attack’s early days — when Ukrainian forces swiftly pushed through Russian defenses and captured several villages — Kyiv poured more forces into the operation, transforming it into a full-scale offensive and effectively opening a new front in western Russia.
The Ukrainian Army said on Thursday that it now controlled more than 80 Russian settlements in the Kursk region, including Sudzha, a town of 6,000. The claims could not be independently verified, although analysts say that Sudzha is highly likely to be under full Ukrainian control.
Yet as Ukraine’s offensive presses on, military experts say that greater challenges lie ahead. Seizing more land will become harder as Russian reinforcements arrive and Ukraine’s supply lines are stretched, and holding on to captured territory could expose fixed Ukrainian positions to potentially devastating Russian airstrikes.
Thibault Fouillet, the deputy director of the Institute for Strategic and Defense Studies, a French research center, said that Ukraine would need to bring in air defense and artillery weapons, organize logistical lines and replace soldiers at the new front.
“It’s not easy to open a new front and hold it,” he said.
Ukraine’s advance in the Kursk region has slowed in recent days, according to open-source maps of the battlefield based on combat footage and satellite images. The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said on Friday that Ukraine continued to make marginal advances and that its forces were now operating inside Borki, a village about eight miles to the southeast of Sudzha.
The Russian command has so far brought in reinforcements mainly from within Russia so as not to deplete its units on the Ukrainian battlefield. But Mr. Fouillet said that Moscow was taking time to deploy these additional troops, which has allowed Kyiv to strengthen its positions and take steps to disrupt the arrival of Russian reinforcements, such as destroying the Glushkovo bridge.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said late Friday that Ukraine had destroyed the bridge using Western rockets, possibly American HIMARS, a ground-launched rocket system. The claim could not be independently confirmed, and Ukraine instead suggested that it had used fighter jets to target the bridge.
Emil Kastehelmi, a military analyst for the Finland-based Black Bird Group, which analyzes footage from the battlefield, said Ukraine had also damaged other bridges over the Seym River, although their location was unclear.
Mr. Kastehelmi wrote on social media that if the “three bridges over Seym get completely destroyed, it could cause the Russians significant logistical issues.” He added that Russian forces had already built at least one additional temporary bridge.
Read More: Ukraine Destroys Key Russian Bridge as It Presses On With Offensive
