World
Ukraine targets Russian bridges in move against Moscow counteroffensive in Kursk
Ukrainian forces have begun targeting key Russian transportation routes in the Kursk region in a move to block Moscow from resupplying troops as Ukraine looks to create a “buffer zone” between it and Russia.
As Kyiv’s incursion entered its second week, reports surfaced Monday suggesting that Ukraine had struck a third, and potentially the final, usable bridge in Russia’s Kursk region.
According to local news outlet Kyiv Independent, which cited comments made Monday by an official from the Russian Investigative Committee, a bridge near the Karyzh village over the Seim River had been damaged by Ukrainian forces.
The moment the second bridge over the Seym River is hit by a Ukrainian strike on Aug. 18, 2024. (Photo provided by East2West)
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Fox News Digital could not verify the extent of the damage caused to the bridge.
The news came after multiple reports over the weekend said two other bridges had been damaged or made inoperable in Zvannoye, just over four miles east from Karyzh, as well as Glushkovo, which sits another five miles east along the Seym River – all of which are in the Kursk region.
Ukrainian defense officials have not yet commented on the operations surrounding the bridge strikes, though reports have said damage to the bridges has stopped or stymied Russia’s ability to transport heavy machinery across the river as it looks to oust Ukrainian troops.
It is unclear how the bridge strikes have affected Russian moves to redeploy troops to the Kursk region as Ukrainian forces continue to advance.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy inspects bunkers, firing ranges, and anti-tank and armored personnel carrier trenches during a visit to the Chernihiv Oblast in Ukraine on April 5, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidency/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksyy has been tight-lipped on the overall goal of the Kursk operation, but some have theorized it is an attempt to divide Russia’s war efforts and force Moscow to draw troops away from the front lines in Ukraine.
Reporting by the Wall Street Journal on Saturday said some 5,000 Russian troops had been called in large part from Ukraine’s Donetsk region to Kursk between Aug. 6 –13.
A satellite image shows a bridge collapsed over the Seym River in the Glushkovo district, Russia, following a Ukrainian strike, Aug. 17, 2024. (Planet Labs Inc./Handout via Reuters)
Despite President Vladimir Putin’s determination to squash the Ukrainian incursion – which Zelenskyy said was done to make Moscow “feel” the repercussions of its war – Ukrainian troops appear to still be making advances in the Russian region.
“Russian redeployments have allowed Russian forces to slow Ukraine’s rapid gains in Kursk Oblast and start containing the extent of the Ukrainian incursion, but containment is only the first and likely least resource-intensive phase of the Russian response in Kursk Oblast,” said the Institute for the Study of War in a Sunday assessment.
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“Although it is too early to assess when Russian forces will stop Ukrainian advances in Kursk Oblast completely and seize the battlefield initiative to launch such an effort,” the assessment added. “This likely future Russian counteroffensive effort will very likely require Russia to commit even more manpower, equipment, and material to Kursk Oblast.”
The Wall Street Journal cited a source familiar with Kyiv’s push in Kursk and said some 6,000 Ukrainian troops are currently in the Russian region, though it is believed that Moscow would need to dedicate some 20,000 soldiers to recapture its territory.
In an address to the nation Sunday, Zelenskyy said, “It is now our primary task in defensive operations overall to destroy as much Russian war potential as possible and conduct maximum counteroffensive actions.”
“This includes creating a buffer zone on the aggressor’s territory – our operation in the Kursk region,” he added.
Ukrainian soldiers take cover from shelling near the Russian border in Sumy region, Ukraine, Aug. 13, 2024. (Reuters/Viacheslav Ratynskyi/File Photo)
Despite the war effort in Kursk, Ukraine is still anticipating Russian advances in its Donetsk region, particularly around Pokrovsk, where Russian forces continue to push west.
The city is expected to be engulfed in the brutal battles that have taken place in Eastern Ukraine within the next two weeks, according to comments made by Donetsk administration official Serhii Dobriak to Radio Free Europe.
And Donetsk Gov. Vadym Filashkin reportedly told the Kyiv Independent that a mandatory evacuation for the nearly 5,000 children remaining in the city will likely be issued later this week.
In July, Zelenskyy warned that Russia was “throwing everything they have” into the region after failing again to take Kharkiv.
Fire at the oil base in Russia’s Proletarsk, Rostov region, following two drone attacks on the morning of Aug. 18, 2024. (Photo provided by East2West)
Images surfaced on Monday allegedly showing multiple explosions along Russia’s Trans-Siberian railway line,- which has been used to transport arms to Moscow’s war effort in Ukraine, reported East2West.
Though Fox News Digital could not confirm what caused the explosions, pro-Ukrainian forces have carried out similar sabotage efforts on Russian targets since the war began.
Images over the weekend showed that Ukrainian forces struck an oil depot in Russia’s Rostov Oblast, which neighbors Donetsk – a move that nods to Ukraine’s push to hit key Russian targets that perpetuate its cross-border war effort.
Some have suggested Zelenskyy, who last week said that “Russia must be forced into peace if Putin wants to continue waging war,” may be looking to use his incursion into Russia as a bargaining chip to end Moscow’s deadly war.
Though a Putin aide on Monday said Moscow was not willing to engage in peace talks “at this stage” following the incursion.
Updated:
Iran outmanoeuvred US President Donald Trump “like a violin” in negotiations, walking away with far better terms after sensing his desperation for a deal to end the war, former National Security Adviser John Bolton told Euronews.
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TEL AVIV, Israel: Reactions in Israel to the Memorandum of Understanding reached by President Donald Trump and Iran on Sunday have been a mix of wait-and-see-the details and outright criticism.
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council confirmed on Sunday that Tehran and Washington had finalized a memorandum of understanding ending the war after months of negotiations. In a statement, the council said all military operations across multiple fronts, including in Lebanon, would cease “immediately and permanently.”
Talks on a comprehensive final agreement will reportedly begin only after both sides have implemented their obligations under the framework and are expected to continue for up to 60 days.
On Monday night, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the nation, saying he had spent decades fighting Iran’s efforts to acquire a nuclear weapon. “I can define it as the mission of my life,” he said. “I stood by it until now, and I will stand by it in the future. With or without a deal, Iran will not have a nuclear weapon.”
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaking to reporters during a press conference on the U.S-Iran deal on June 15, 2026. (Israel Government Press Office)
He continued, “Not today and not tomorrow. As long as I am the prime minister of Israel, it will not happen.”
Responding to reporters’ questions, Netanyahu acknowledged that he was not familiar with the exact details of the memorandum of understanding reached between the Trump administration and the Iranian regime but lauded the joint U.S.-Israel operation against the regime.
Netanyahu said the campaigns had spared Israel from the threat of nuclear annihilation. “If we had not acted when we did… and with the force we demonstrated in a historic partnership with President Trump and the U.S. military, Iran would already possess atomic bombs,” Netanyahu said.
Earlier on Monday, Defense Minister Israel Katz, held back from directly criticizing the deal but said that the IDF would not withdraw from southern Lebanon, warning that if Iran attacks Israel in response to the fighting against Hezbollah, “we will strike it with full force.”
He said, “The IDF will remain in the security zones in Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza, without any time limit, to protect the border and Israeli communities against jihadist elements.”
IDF troops fighting Hezbollah terrorists in southern Lebanon. (IDF Spokesman’s Unit.)
Katz described the security zones as “among the IDF’s greatest achievements” in the multi-front war since the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023 massacre, adding that Israel therefore opposes an IDF withdrawal from Lebanon despite all the pressures that will still come.
Katz said he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had conveyed these positions to U.S. President Donald Trump and other senior American officials, including U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
“We will not compromise on Israel’s security interests and the protection of our citizens,” he concluded.
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President Donald Trump monitors U.S. military operations in Iran following an Israeli strike in Tehran on Feb. 28, 2026. (@WhiteHouse/X)
Yossi Kuperwasser, head of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security and former chief of the research division in the Israel Defense Forces’ Military Intelligence Directorate, told Fox News Digital that the details of the agreement remain sketchy.
“There was a debate within the Iranian leadership over whether to accept the deal,” he said. “It appears that the information we are hearing is coming from those who opposed it. Maybe they are right, maybe they are wrong, but it raises major concerns in Israel. If this is the deal, it is a disaster. If one listens to President Trump, the deal is probably something different.”
Kuperwasser defined a “good deal” as one in which Iran gives up all components of its nuclear program, grants access to enriched uranium and establishes a robust monitoring system capable of reaching anywhere at any time, including military facilities likely being used for atomic purposes. He added that such an agreement should also prohibit production of missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
A fireball rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike targeting an area in Beirut’s southern suburbs overnight on March 10 to 11, 2026. (Fadel itani / AFP via Getty Images)
“Lebanon’s fate is a matter to be discussed between Washington, Jerusalem, and Beirut,” Kuperwasser said. “Iran is not a party to those talks and should not be according to the Lebanese government. If Lebanon is to be part of a deal with Iran, it means Tehran has a say in Lebanese matters.”
Kuperwasser noted that Israel has lived under the shadow of Iran’s nuclear program since 1998, while noting that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is uniquely positioned to assess the issue given his decades of involvement. He said it remains unclear whether Netanyahu is satisfied with the outcome or what his final assessment will be.
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Former Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, now leader of the opposition, referred Fox News Digital to his comments on X.
“The emerging agreement achieves none of Israel’s war goals. The regime survives, the missile program exists, and Iran can rebuild its nuclear program. This is a complete failure by Netanyahu, and in the process, he is turning us into a client state that takes orders about its national security,” he wrote.
A motorist rides past a banner featuring images of Iran’s slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his son Mojtaba Khamenei along a street in Tehran on April 15, 2026. (AFP/Getty Images)
On March 19, Prime Minister Netanyahu outlined three war objectives for the U.S.-Israel joint operation against Iran: “One, removing the nuclear threat. Second, removing the ballistic missile threat and removing both of these threats before they’re buried deep underground and become immune from aerial attack. And third, this means creating the conditions for the Iranian people to grasp their freedom, to control their destiny,” the premier stated at the time.
Dr Meir Javedanfar, Iran lecturer at Reichman University, told Fox News Digital that Israel’s most immediate concern regarding the deal is the clause dealing with Lebanon.
“There is genuine concern that this could tie Israel’s hands,” he said. “An additional concern is that Hezbollah could use this clause to regroup and strengthen its armed forces and positions along the border with Israel.”
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Javedanfar said it is too early to assess whether the deal would leave Israel in a significantly stronger position than the 2015 Obama-era nuclear agreement, citing the fate of Iran’s stockpile of 60% enriched uranium and its atomic infrastructure.
“Will Iran be allowed to continue enriching uranium on its soil? If yes, at what percentage? And how will the international community oversee Iran’s nuclear program? What kind of inspection program will they have? How intrusive will they be?” he added.
The Israel Defense Forces said its troops located and destroyed a Hezbollah underground command center with infrastructure about 8 meters below ground in South Lebanon. (IDF Spokesman’s Unit)
Israel’s controversial National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on Monday insisted that the MOU does not bind the Jewish state. “Israel is not subject to the United States, and we are an independent and sovereign nation,” he tweeted, adding that Jerusalem’s duty is to its citizens, its soldiers and the Jewish people.”
He stated, “My position is clear: we are not partners to this agreement that does not ensure our security, and it does not bind us in any way,” he said, adding that while Israelis “love” the United States and “are grateful” to Trump, “the State of Israel is not a banana republic.”
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On Friday, Netanyahu’s office stated that “Even though Israel is not a party to the memorandum of understanding, the Prime Minister expressed his appreciation for President Trump’s commitment that the final agreement at the conclusion of negotiations will include the removal of enriched material, the dismantling of enrichment infrastructure, limits on missile production, and the cessation of Iran’s support for its terrorist proxies in the region.”
President Donald Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago on Dec. 29, 2025, to discuss Iran tensions and the Gaza peace plan. (Israel Government Press Office)
Quoting the prime minister, the statement added that “As long as I am the Prime Minister of Israel – Iran will not have nuclear weapons. President Trump and I are in full agreement on this issue. For over 30 years, I have been at the forefront of the international struggle against Iran’s nuclear program. Were it not for this struggle, Iran would have long ago possessed atomic bombs to destroy Israel. Iran is working to destroy the Jewish state, and I am dedicating my life to preventing them from doing so. As long as I am the Prime Minister of Israel, this will not happen.”
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