Ukraine war latest: Ukraine blows hole in another Russian bridge; Kursk offensive puts 'new constraints' on Putin's war plans (2024)

Ukraine has dismissed Belarusian border tension claims as false.

PresidentAleksandr Lukashenko was just trying to "appease" Russia when he said he was sending a third of the Belarusian army to the Ukrainian border, said Andrii Demchenko, spokesperson for the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine.

"We have not seen an increase in the equipment or manpower of Belarusian units near our border," he said.

"The situation on the border with the Republic of Belarus remains unchanged.

"As you can see, Lukashenko's rhetoric is consistent, exacerbating the situation at regular intervals to appease the terrorist country."

We can now bring you video of the Ukrainian strike on the second bridge in Kursk this week.

A plume of smoke can be seen erupting from the construction in footage published by the Ukrainian air force.

The attacks on bridges crossing the river Seym, one in Zvannoe and the other in Glushkovo, are thought to be attempts to hamper Russian attempts to resupply its troops in the region.

We've had more details from Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on his movement of troops to the Ukrainian border.

Minsk has deployed nearly a third of its armed forces along the entire border, the Belta state news agency reported.

The exact number of soldiers was not specified, but Belarus' professional army consists of 48,000 and around 12,000 state border troops, according to the 2022 International Institute for Strategic Studies' Military Balance.

The president claimed Ukraine had stationed more than 120,000 troops at its border with Belarus.

"Seeing their aggressive policy, we have introduced there and placed in certain points - in case of war, they would be defence - our military along the entire border," Belta cited Mr Lukashenko as saying in an interview with Russian state television.

Yesterday, Kyiv said it had seen no signs of a Belarusian troop build-up at the border.

Belarusian defence minister Viktor Khrenin said on Fridaythere was a high probability of an armed provocation from Ukraine and that the situation at their sharedborder "remains tense".

Western leaders have left "handcuffs" on Ukrainians using their donated weapons because they fear playing to Vladimir Putin's agenda,military analyst Sean Bellsays.

While the UK gave Ukraine free reign over its donated Storm Shadow missiles, so long as they hit military targets, the British government wants consensus with the US before they are used inside Russia - and "the US is rather cautious still".

Bell explains the argument made in the West - especially the US - is that they do not want to lend any credence to Putin's claims that Russia is fighting NATO or the West, rather than Ukraine.

"The risk is it plays to that agenda and Putin starts saying 'I'm actually in a war against the West' and therefore starts to respond accordingly."

Bell said: "But these handcuffs on the Ukrainians led to President Zelenskyy last night, in his nightly address, praising the West, particularly singling out the UK, for providing great weapons but also urging that the limitations are freed."

Belarusian President AlexanderLukashenko says Ukraine has stationed more than120,000 troops at its border with Belarus.

Minsk has sent military formations along its entire border in response,Russia's RIA state news agency said.

Mr Lukashenko, one of Vladimir Putin's closest international allies, said the border is mined "as never before" and thatUkrainian troops would incur huge losses if they tried to crossit.

More detail now on Russia's overnight missile attack on Kyiv, which Ukraine says were "most likely" North Korean weapons.

Serhiy Popko, the head of the Kyiv military administration, said: "According to preliminary information, the Russians again, for the third time in a row, most likely used North Korean ballistic missiles."

South Korea, Ukraine and the United States have accused North Korea of supplying artillery and missiles to Russia, which both states have denied.

Meanwhile, North Korea condemnedUkraine's incursion into Russia and said it would always standwith Russia, state media reported.

The dictatorship blamed the US for the attack, adding it waspushing the situation to the brink of World War Three, KCNAnews agency said.

"We strongly condemn the armed attack against theRussian territory by the Zelenskyy puppet regime under thecontrol and support of the United States and the West as anunforgivable act of aggression and terror," North Korea'sforeign ministry said.

North Korea has dramatically upgraded its ties with Russiain the past year with two summit meetings by their leaders whopledged closer cooperation in all areas.

In June, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a pact in Pyongyang on"comprehensive strategic partnership" that included a mutualdefence agreement.

The Ukrainian air force says it has attacked a second bridge in Russia's Kursk region.

Footage posted on a commander's Telegram channel shows an attack on a bridge in Zvannoe, Kursk over the Seym river.

This is the same river over which another bridge was destroyed earlier this week.

Ukraine's destruction of infrastructure in the area is believed to be an attempt to hamper Russian supply lines or reinforcements.

Air force commander Lieutenant General Mykola Oleshchuk wrote: "Minus one more bridge! The aviation of the air force continues to deprive the enemy of its logistical capabilities with accurate air strikes, which significantly affects the course of hostilities."

Ukraine's offensive in Kursk has generated frontline-wide pressures on Russian forces, according to the Institute for the Study of War.

Vladimir Putin is almost certain to attempt to retake the Russian territory, which will require more manpower and equipment from elsewhere in the theatre, the US-based think tank said.

Long-term, Putin will be forced to make a decision about committing more resource Russia's long international border with Ukraine, imposing "constraints" on theatre-wide planning that "Russia previously did not face".

"The Ukrainian incursion in Kursk Oblast and the heightened Russian priority of maintaining the tempo of offensive operations in Donetsk Oblast will likely place greater strain on Russia's remaining operational reserves and likely begin to impact Russia's ability to sustain consistent offensive operations throughout the theatre," the ISW said.

"Further Russian redeployments to Kursk Oblast would also further weaken Russia's ability to sustain offensive operations in northeastern and eastern Ukraine."

The Russian military has already redeployed 11 battalions from within Kursk Oblast and four Russian force groupings from elsewhere.

This may be at odds with Putin's strategy of grinding attrition and indefinite, incremental territorial gains, but "persisting Ukrainian occupation of Russian territory would be a strategic blow to Putin's decades-long effort to cement a legacy of Russian stability, security, and geopolitical resurgence".

Russia has launched itsthird ballistic missile attack on Kyiv this month.

A witness heard blasts that sounded like air defence systems early this morning, before fresh air raid alerts sounded over the threat of more missiles heading towards the city.

Preliminary datashowed all missiles were destroyed on theirapproach to the city, the military administration of theUkrainian capital said.

"This is already the third ballistic strike on the capitalin August, with exact intervals of six days between eachattack," said Serhiy Popko, the head of the Kyiv militaryadministration.

He added that Ukraine's air defence units alsodestroyed a number of drones launched by Russia.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

Ukraine's air force chief said its forces destroyed eight Russian attack drones and five out of eight missileslaunched overnight towards the Kyiv, Sumy and Poltava regions.

A Ukrainian drone attack has caused a fire at a Russian oil reservoir, according to reports.

More than 70 firefighters rushed to tackle the blaze that covered 5,000 square metres in the Azov district of the Rostov-on-Don region, according to the Russian emergencies ministry.

Baza, a Telegram channel close to Russian law enforcement, said an oil depot was damaged in Rostov, while Russia's SHOT channel posted a video showing dark smoke rising from what it said was an oil depot.

Regional governor Vasily Golubev said debris from a destroyed Ukrainian drone sparked a diesel fuel fire at an "industrial warehouse".

Russia's air defence units destroyedfive drones that Ukraine launched overnight targeting the Kursk, Belgorod and Rostov regions, Russia's defence ministry said.

Russia rarely admits direct hits by Ukrainian drones.