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Ukraine targets Russian bridges in move against Moscow counteroffensive in Kursk

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Ukraine targets Russian bridges in move against Moscow counteroffensive in Kursk

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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.

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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)

PUTIN SCRAMBLES AS UKRAINE ADVANCES TROOPS ALONG ‘DORMANT FRONT’ IN BORDER SECURITY OPERATION

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.

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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. 

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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. 

UKRAINE BRINGS WAR TO RUSSIA IN ‘MASSIVE’ DRONE STRIKE ON MILITARY, GOVERNMENT TARGETS

“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.”

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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. 

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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)

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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. 

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Minnesota braces for what’s next amid immigration arrests and in the wake of Renee Good shooting

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Minnesota braces for what’s next amid immigration arrests and in the wake of Renee Good shooting

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Already shaken by the fatal shooting of a woman by an immigration officer, Minnesota’s Twin Cities on Sunday braced for what many expect will be a new normal over the next few weeks as the Department of Homeland Security carries out what it called its largest enforcement operation ever.

Protesters screamed at heavily-armed federal agents and honked car horns, banged on drums and blew whistles in attempts to disrupt their operations in one Minneapolis neighborhood filled with single-family homes.

There was some pushing and several people were hit with chemical spray just before agents banged down the door of one home on Sunday. They later took one man away in handcuffs.

“We’re seeing a lot of immigration enforcement across Minneapolis and across the state, federal agents just swarming around our neighborhoods,” said Jason Chavez, a Minneapolis city councilmember. “They’ve definitely been out here.”

Chavez, the son of Mexican immigrants who represents an area with a growing immigrant population, said he is closely monitoring information from chat groups about where residents are seeing agents operating.

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People holding whistles positioned themselves in freezing temperatures on street corners in the neighborhood where 37-year-old Renee Good was shot and killed Wednesday, watching for any signs of federal agents.

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More than 20,000 people have taken part in a variety of trainings to become “observers” of enforcement activities in Minnesota since the 2024 election, said Luis Argueta, a spokesperson for Unidos MN, a local human rights organization .

“It’s a role that people choose to take on voluntarily, because they choose to look out for their neighbors,” Argueta said.

The protests have been largely peaceful, but the Twin Cities remained anxious. Minneapolis public schools on Monday will start offering remote learning for the next month in response to concerns that children might feel unsafe venturing out while tensions remain high.

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Many schools closed last week after Good’s shooting and the upheaval that followed.

While the enforcement activity continues, two of the state’s leading Democrats said on Sunday that the investigation into Good’s shooting death shouldn’t be overseen solely by the federal government.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and U.S. Sen. Tina Smith said in separate interviews Sunday that state authorities should be included in the investigation because the federal government has already made clear what it believes happened.

“How can we trust the federal government to do an objective, unbiased investigation, without prejudice, when at the beginning of that investigation they have already announced exactly what they saw — what they think happened,” Smith said on ABC’s “This Week.”

The Trump administration has defended the officer who shot Good in her car, saying he was protecting himself and fellow agents and that Good had “weaponized” her vehicle.

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Todd Lyons, acting director of ICE, defended the officer on Fox News Channel’s “The Sunday Briefing.”

“That law enforcement officer had milliseconds, if not short time to make a decision to save his life and his other fellow agents,” he said.

Lyons also said the administration’s enforcement operations in Minnesota wouldn’t be needed “if local jurisdictions worked with us to turn over these criminally illegal aliens once they are already considered a public safety threat by the locals.”

The killing of Good by an ICE officer and the shooting of two people by federal agents in Portland, Oregon, led to dozens of protests across the country over the weekend.

Thousands of people marched Saturday in Minneapolis, where Homeland Security called its deployment of immigration officers in the Twin Cities its biggest ever immigration enforcement operation.

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Associated Press journalists Giovanna Dell’Orto in Minneapolis, Thomas Strong in Washington, Bill Barrow in Atlanta, and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed.

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Netanyahu and Rubio discuss US military intervention in Iran amid ongoing nationwide protests: report

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Netanyahu and Rubio discuss US military intervention in Iran amid ongoing nationwide protests: report

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed the possibility of U.S. intervention in Iran, according to a report.

The two leaders spoke by phone Saturday as Israel is on “high alert,” preparing for the possibility of U.S. military intervention in Iran, according to Reuters, citing multiple Israeli sources. A U.S. official confirmed the call to Fox News Digital but did not provide additional details.

The report comes as nationwide anti-regime demonstrations across Iran hit the two-week mark.

On Saturday, the Iranian regime triggered an internet “kill switch” in an apparent effort to conceal alleged abuses by security forces and as protests against it surged nationwide, according to a cybersecurity expert. The blackout reduced internet access to a fraction of normal levels.

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio holds his end-of-year press conference at the State Department in Washington, D.C., Dec. 19, 2025. (Kevin Mohatt/Reuters)

On Sunday, Iran’s parliament speaker warned that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America strikes the Islamic Republic.

Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf issued the threat as lawmakers rushed the dais in the Iranian parliament, shouting, “Death to America!” according to The Associated Press.

President Donald Trump offered support for the protesters on Saturday, writing on Truth Social that “Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!”

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IRANIAN MILITARY LEADER THREATENS PREEMPTIVE ATTACK AFTER TRUMP COMMENTS

In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran’s Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)

At a news conference Friday, Trump said Iran was facing mounting pressure as unrest spreads across the country.

“Iran’s in big trouble,” he said. “It looks to me that the people are taking over certain cities that nobody thought were really possible just a few weeks ago. We’re watching the situation very carefully.”

The president said the U.S. would respond forcefully if the regime resorts to mass violence. 

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“We’ll be hitting them very hard where it hurts. And that doesn’t mean boots on the ground, but it means hitting them very, very hard where it hurts,” he said.

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Protests in Iran intensify for the 12th day. (The National Council of Resistance of Iran)

Fox News Digital reached out to the State Department and White House for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Emma Bussey, Brie Stimson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Four killed, 20 injured in overnight Russian strikes across Ukraine

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Four killed, 20 injured in overnight Russian strikes across Ukraine

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Russia fired more than 150 drones overnight into Sunday targeting close to two dozen locations across Ukraine, killing at least four people and injuring 20 more.

Ukraine’s Air Forces say they intercepted 125 drones aerially but confirmed that at least 25 strike drones struck their targets.

They added that Moscow’s latest barrage mainly targeted Kharkiv, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk, all of which were targeted in Saturday’s overnight strikes as well.

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Local officials in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia say the strikes targeted residential areas and energy infrastructure. More than 385,000 homes were affected by electric, gas or water outages, at a critical time as temperatures plunged to 10 degrees below Celsius.

Regional lawmakers say service was restored to most of the affected households and areas by Sunday morning, but added that emergency work was still being carried out to restore power to the remaining homes.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of timing their attacks with the cold peaks of winter as to maximise civilian suffering.

“They struck targets that have no military purpose whatsoever – energy infrastructure, residential buildings. They deliberately waited for freezing weather to make things worse for our people. This is deliberate, cynical Russian terror specifically against civilians,” wrote Zelenskyy in a post on X.

He also noted that this week had seen heightened Russian assault on Ukrainian cities, announcing that his country’s defence forces recorded thousands of attacks using a variety of different weapons.

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“Over the course of this week, Russia launched almost 1,100 attack drones against Ukraine, more than 890 guided aerial bombs, and over 50 missiles of various types – ballistic, cruise, and even the Oreshnik medium-range ballistic missile.”

The Ukrainian leader thanked all units responsible for protecting the country and responding to attacks, and praised their tireless efforts and resilience.

He also called on allies to ensure his embattled country maintains “stable support”, in defence and diplomatic fields as coordinated dialogue efforts continue in search of peace.

Meanwhile, Russia says that one person was killed in Ukrainian strikes on the western city of Voronezh. Officials say a young woman succumbed to her wounds at an intensive care unit of a local hospital after debris from a drone fell on her house during Saturday’s attacks.

They added that at least three others were injured in the attacks which targeted more than 10 residential apartment buildings, private homes and a high school.

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The city of Voronezh lies just 250 kilometres from the Ukrainian border and is home to approximately one million people. The attacks, which Kyiv have yet to confirm, came after the Kremlin’s major offensive on Ukraine in the early hours of Saturday.

Additional sources • AP

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