Heavy losses for Russian battalion

RUSSIA suffered heavy losses when Ukrainian forces destroyed the pontoon bridge enemy troops were using to try to cross a river.

The update from Ukraine and British officials is another sign of Moscow’s struggle to salvage a war gone awry.

Ukrainian authorities, meanwhile, opened the first war crimes trial of the conflict. The defendant, a captured Russian soldier, is accused of killing a 62-year-old civilian.

The trial got under way as Russia’s campaign in Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland of the Donbas made faltering progress. Ukraine’s airborne command released photos and video of what it said was a damaged Russian pontoon bridge over the Siversky Donets River and several destroyed or damaged Russian military vehicles nearby.

Ukrainian news reports said troops thwarted a bid by Russian forces to cross the river this week, leaving dozens of tanks and other military vehicles damaged or abandoned.

The command said its troops “drowned the Russian occupiers”.

Britain’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) said Russia lost “significant armoured manoeuvre elements” of at least one battalion tactical group.

“Conducting river crossings in a contested environment is a highly risky manoeuvre and speaks to the pressure the Russian commanders are under,” the MoD said.

In other developments, a move by Finland and, potentially, Sweden to join Nato was thrown into question when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country is “not of a favourable opinion” toward the idea.

He accused Sweden and other Scandinavian countries of supporting groups Turkey considers terrorists.

Mr Erdogan did not say outright he would block the two countries from joining Nato, but the alliance makes its decisions by consensus, meaning that each of its 30 member countries has a veto over who can join.

Ukrainian soldiers attend the funeral of a comrade who died in Kharkiv as he fought the Russians.