KIEV (Reuters) – Russian authorities struggled on Tuesday to put out a huge fire in the southern Rostov region for a third day after Ukrainian drones hit an oil depot, as Kiev forces also advanced into Russia’s Kursk region.
The fire, which broke out in a warehouse in the town of Proletarsk, has burned through 2.5 hectares, Russian state news agencies reported. The TASS news agency, citing local officials, said 500 firefighters were involved in the operation, with 41 of them already hospitalized with injuries.
The Ukrainian General Staff on Sunday claimed responsibility for the attack on the oil depot, which was used to supply the Russian military, describing it as an action “aimed at undermining the military and economic potential of the Russian Federation.”
Hundreds of kilometers to the northwest, Ukraine continued its operations in Russia’s Kursk region.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said The daring invasion of Kursk He has allowed his military to capture a large number of Russian prisoners who can be used in exchange for Ukrainian captives, broadening Kyiv’s goals in the mission it launched two weeks ago. He has previously made clear that Ukraine seeks to create a buffer zone This would prevent further cross-border attacks by Moscow, particularly using long-range artillery, rockets and glide bombs.
“Overall, this operation (Kursk) has become our biggest investment in the process of liberating Ukrainian men and women from Russian captivity,” Zelensky told diplomats on Monday, according to a statement posted on Telegram late in the day. “We have already captured the largest number of Russian prisoners in a single operation.”
Zelensky said the Ukrainian military had captured 1,250 square kilometers (480 square miles) and 92 settlements in Russia’s Kursk region.
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said Ukrainian forces “continued to advance slightly” in Kursk on Monday.
The Ukrainian incursion, the largest attack on Russia since World War II, has exposed Russia’s vulnerabilities under President Vladimir Putin.
“Our cross-border defensive measures, as well as Putin’s inability to defend his territory, are significant. Our proactive defense is the most effective means of countering Russian terrorism, which causes great difficulties for the aggressor,” Zelensky said.
Seventeen people were killed and 140 wounded in the Ukrainian advance, TASS reported, citing an unnamed source in the Russian medical service. Four children were among the 75 people hospitalized.
Ukrainian and Russian reports indicate that Ukraine has destroyed or damaged at least three bridges over the Seim River in the Kursk region — a move that would trap Russian forces between the river, the Ukrainian advance and the Ukrainian border.
Over the weekend, the commander of the Ukrainian air force released two videos of bridges over the Seim River being bombed, and satellite images taken by Planet Labs PBC and analyzed by The Associated Press on Tuesday confirmed that a bridge in the town of Glushkovo had been clearly destroyed. There was visual satellite evidence of mechanical maneuvers by troops in the Kursk region but no clear picture of the fate of the two remaining bridges.
A Russian military investigator confirmed on Monday that Ukraine had “completely destroyed” one bridge and damaged two others in the area.
“As a result of targeted shelling with rocket and artillery fire on residential buildings and civilian infrastructure in the village of Kareg… a third bridge over the Seim River was damaged,” an unnamed representative of the Russian Investigative Committee said in a video posted on the Telegram channel of Russian state TV presenter Vladimir Solovyov.
In recent days, pontoon bridges—temporary bridges used by armies when official bridges are destroyed—have been seen in satellite imagery at two different locations along the Sim River. These pontoons were likely built by Russian soldiers trying to supply forces flanking the Ukrainian advance.
A floating bridge was visible along the winding course of the river between Glushkovo and the village of Zvannoye on Saturday, but was not visible in images taken on Monday. On Monday, smoke could be seen rising along the banks of the nearby river – usually a sign of a strike.
But even as Zelensky hails successes in Kursk, his forces face a grim situation in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, where Russia is pressing the city of Pokrovsk, forcing Kyiv’s forces to withdraw and Ukrainian civilians to flee. Fleeing their homes.
Russia’s six-month-old campaign across Ukraine’s Donetsk region after seizing AvdiivkaThis cost both sides heavy losses in troops and armor.
Russian forces are moving toward Pokrovsk, one of Ukraine’s main defensive strongholds and a key logistics hub in the Donetsk region. Capturing it would jeopardize Ukraine’s defensive capabilities and supply routes, and bring Russia closer to its stated goal of capturing the entire Donetsk region.
Russia wants to control all parts of Donetsk and neighbouring Luhansk, which together form the industrial Donbas region.
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Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell contributed to this story.
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