Russia says it has seized another village near Pokrovsk
Russia’s Defense Ministry says Moscow’s troops have captured — in the Kremlin’s parlance, “liberated” — another front-line village in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.
The village, Svyrydonivka, is some 15 km (9 miles) from the city of Pokrovsk, a Ukrainian-held logistics hub that has been one of Moscow’s key targets in the war for months.
The capture of Svyrydonivka comes as Russian troops are advancing fast on Pokrovsk, with officials there on Friday urging civilians to leave as quickly as possible.
The city lies on a road that is key to supplying troops and towns across the eastern front.
Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko says Minsk has deployed nearly a third of its armed forces along the Ukraine border. Kyiv’s forces say they are shoring up their positions in Russia’s Kursk region.
Ukraine claims second Kursk bridge hit
Ukraine’s air force says a second bridge over the Seim River in Russia’s Kursk region has suffered major damage in a strike by its forces.
The report of the hit on a bridge near the village of Zvannoe comes two days after the destruction of a bridge in Glushkovo to the southeast.
Air force commander Mykola Oleshchuk published a video clip purporting to show the hit on the Zvannoe bridge, saying, “The air force is taking logistic options away from the enemy with precision strikes, which will have a considerable impact on combat operations.”
Russian military bloggers say only one bridge now remains in the Glushkovo area for supplying Russian troops.
The Russian Foreign Ministry claims that the Glushkovo bridge was destroyed using
weapons supplied by NATO.
North Korea condemns ‘unforgivable’ Kursk incursion
Moscow ally North Korea has called Kyiv’s almost two-week-long offensive in Russia’s Kursk region “an unforgivable act of aggression and terror,” according to the state-run news agency KCNA.
Describing the Kyiv government as a “puppet regime under the control and support of the United States and the West,” KCNA said the incursion was bringing the situation to the brink of World War Three.
South Korea, Ukraine and the United States have accused North Korea of supplying military hardware, including missiles, to Russia for use in its war against Ukraine. North Korea and Russia have denied the allegations.
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 mutual defense agreement.
Troops deployed along entire Belarus-Ukraine border: Lukashenko
Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko has said that his country has stationed troops along its entire border to Ukraine in response to what he claimed was Kyiv’s deployment of 120,000 troops on its side.
“Seeing their aggressive policy, we have introduced there and placed in certain points — in case of war, they would be defense — our military along the entire border,” state news agency Belta cited Lukashenko as saying in an interview with Russian state television.
He produced no evidence to back his claim of the Ukrainian deployment, which he said earlier this week might be a sign that Kyiv plans to attack his country — another unproven claim.
Lukashenko, who is closely allied with Russian President Vladimir Putin, said on Sunday that the Belarusian-Ukrainian border was mined “as never before” and that Ukrainian troops would incur huge losses if they tried to cross it.
Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin on Friday said there was a high probability of an armed provocation from neighboring Ukraine. He said the situation at the shared border “remains tense.”
Belarus allowed Russian troops to enter Ukraine via its territory in the early stages of Moscow’s invasion in February 2022, which would have provided the Russian military with the shortest possible land route to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, though the attempt to take the city was foiled.
Since then, Belarus has aided Moscow in other ways as well, such as allowing Russian missile launchers to be stationed on its territory.
