Ukraine close to cutting off Russian forces in part of Kursk after third bridge attacked

Ukraine has destroyed a third bridge over the Seym River in the Kursk region, as part of an apparent attempt to expand what President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has described as a military "buffer zone" inside Russia.

- Luke Harding and Dan Sabbagh

According to Russian officials, the bridge in the village of Karyzh was damaged overnight by targeted Ukrainian "shelling". It was the last major crossing on this part of the front, following the destruction on Friday and Saturday of two bridges further east over the same river.

Ukraine's armed forces are now poised to push forward from their existing bridgehead around the Russian town of Sudzha, captured two weeks ago during the surprise offensive. They are seeking to encircle Russian troops - some of them conscripts who are stuck south of the river in the Korenevsky district.

If the operation succeeds, Ukraine will gain another 700 sq km (270 sq miles) of Russian land. Russia has built pontoon bridges across the river in order to supply its forces, but these are vulnerable to close-range Ukrainian strikes from US-supplied Himars systems truck-mounted mobile rocket launchers.

Yesterday Kyiv captured two more Russian villages, Snagost and Apanasovka. The pace of its advance into Kursk oblast has slowed in recent days, however. The Kremlin has scrambled reserves to try to stop Ukrainian combat units from advancing further.

"The situation is messy there," a senior Ukrainian official told the Guardian. "The Russians have pulled in extra troops. Some are capable, some are not. The Russians have found it extremely difficult to recapture lost territory."