The Ukrainian government is still proclaiming that its forces are making progress into the southern Russian oblast of Kursk, while the Kremlin has at the same time said its troops destroyed an entire reconnaissance and sabotage group in western Kursk on Friday.
Regardless of which side's narrative of events are more accurate amid the fog of war, the biggest end of week development has involved the destruction of a key Russian bridge on Friday.
The pro-opposition Amsterdam-based Moscow Times has identified that "The bridge, which spanned the Seym River near the town of Glushkovo, was partially damaged earlier in the day in an attack that killed two volunteer workers from the All-Russia People’s Front, pro-war bloggers said."
"Later on Friday, the bridge collapsed after being struck by a U.S.-supplied HIMARS rocket, the Kremlin-aligned Mash Telegram news channel reported, publishing images of the destroyed structure," the report continued. This is a reference to the US Army's M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System which can be outfitted with either mid-range or long-range missiles.
Aerial images and videos have been circulating throughout the day, and Acting Kursk region governor Alexei Smirnov has since confirmed that the bridge collapsed.
The bridge was nearly seven miles north of the Ukrainian border, and was used as a key supply and logistics route for Russian forces fighting off the cross-border incursion.
The specific targeting of the bridge may be a move by Ukraine to solidify control of the Glushkovsky district, which leaves the protection of the Seym River a significant geographical barrier for Russian troops.
If it is indeed true that a U.S.-supplied HIMARS rocket struck and destroyed the bridge, this would mark a huge turning point of the conflict, where Ukraine troops are on Russian soil using American heavy rocket systems to take out major infrastructure.
Ukraine's air force boasted that it took out the bridge...
Ukraine’s Air Force Commander Lieutenant General Mykola Oleschuk claims responsibility for the destruction of a bridge in Russia’s Kursk region today. Video via his Telegram channel. “Aviation of the Air Force takes an active part in combat operations in the Kursk direction.… pic.twitter.com/K28WsC56Ml
— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) August 16, 2024
RIA additionally reported a Russian security official as saying additionally on Friday, "Samples of small arms manufactured by the United States and Sweden have been seized at the liquidation site of a Ukrainian sabotage group near the village of Kremyanoe in the Kursk region."
So it is very clear by now that at least on some level, Western-supplied arms are having a central role in Ukrainian invasion of Russia's southern oblasts.
