Russia Ukraine war live: Kyiv destroys key Russian bridge as Ukraine ‘inflicts maximum damage’ in Kursk

Ukraine’s defence ministry have claimed that 598,180 members of the Russian armed forces have died in the war so far.

In a tally titled ‘losses of the Russian occupiers in Ukraine’, the ministry said that Russia had lost 367 aircraft, 8501 tanks, 16,473 armoured fighting vehicles and one submarine.

16,985 artillery systems, 2,432 cruise missiles and 28 warships and boats have also been taken out between 24 February 2022 and 17 August 2024, the ministry said.

The US government is reportedly behind the halt on Storm Shadow missiles being used by Kyiv inside Russia.

According to a report in The Times, the UK government is in favour of relaxing the use of long range weapons and has asked Washington for the green light.

A UK government source told the paper that a request was made more than a month ago to the US government but that it was “stuck in the system” – with no decision forthcoming.

Another UK government source said that “discussions were still ongoing around Storm Shadow with allies”. The UK would require consensus from allies in order to give Ukraine the freedom to use the long-range weapons inside Russia.

Ukraine’s air defences shot down all 14 Russian drones fired in an overnight attack, the Ukrainian air force said on Saturday.

The air force said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app that the Shahed drones were downed over six Ukrainian regions in the south and centre of the country

Ukraine’s foreign ministry rubbished Moscow’s claims about Kyiv planning an attack on Russian nuclear power plants with “dirty bombs.”

Several state-controlled Russian media claimed Ukrainian troops were planning to attack the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) in Russia.

Kyiv’s foreign ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi called the claims “a surge of insane Russian propaganda.”

“Ukraine has neither the intention nor the ability to carry out any such actions. Russia must stop spreading dangerous lies,” Mr Tykhyi said.

He said Ukraine is a committed member of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and does not have any “dirty bombs.”

“Their scenario of accusing us of terrorism and the attack on the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant did not work. Now they are lying,” Andrii Kovalenko, the head of the counter-disinformation department at Ukraine’s national security and defence council wrote on Telegram.

Ukraine’s ongoing counter-offensive incursion into villages at the Russian border will help bring Moscow to the negotiation table, Mykhailo Podolyak, a top Ukrainian presidential adviser said on X.

“In the Kursk region, we can clearly see how the military tool is being used objectively to persuade Russia to enter a fair negotiation process,” he said, adding that Moscow would face “significant tactical defeats” from Ukraine’s incursion.

The move would also influence public opinion within Russia, the presidential advisor believes.

“An important tool is also the influence on public opinion within Russia, which is beginning to change when the war has come deep into their territory,” Mr Podolyak said.

“Negative changes in the psychological state of the Russian population will be another argument for the start of negotiations,” he said.

Russia’s foreign ministry said Ukraine had used Western rockets – likely US-made HIMARS – to destroy a key bridge over the Seym river in the Kursk region.

“For the first time, the Kursk region was hit by Western-made rocket launchers, probably American HIMARS,” Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry, said late on Friday on the Telegram messaging app.

“As a result of the attack on the bridge over the Seym River in the Glushkovo district, it was completely destroyed, and volunteers who were assisting the evacuated civilian population were killed.”

Ukrainian army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Friday that Kyiv’s forces were advancing between 1 and 3 kilometre in some areas in the Kursk region, 11 days since beginning an incursion into Russia.

Kyiv has claimed to have taken control of 82 settlements over an area of 1,150 square kilometres in the region since Aug 6.

Reuters could not independently verify either side’s battlefield accounts.

Russia has accused the West of supporting and encouraging Ukraine‘s first ground offensive on Russian territory and said Kyiv’s “terrorist invasion” would not change the course of the war.

The United States, which has said it cannot allow Russian President Vladimir Putin to win the war he launched in February 2022, so far deems the surprise incursion a protective move that justifies the use of U.S. weaponry, officials in Washington said.

Ukraine’s troops invading Russian border villages have destroyed a key bridge over the Seym river used by the Kremlin to send its troops critical supplies.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine’s incursion and capture of land in Russia’s Kursk region could eventually lead to a swap deal for Ukrainian regions occupied by Moscow.

The latest attack on the bridge near the Russian town of Glushkovo has cut off part of the local district, according to reports.

Mykhailo Podolyak, a key Zelensky adviser, said the counter incursion’s main aim was to get Moscow back on the negotiation table.

“In the Kursk region, we can clearly see how the military tool is being used objectively to persuade Russia to enter a fair negotiation process,” he posted on X.