Russia suffers heavy losses as bridge destroyed
RUSSIA suffered heavy losses when Ukrainian forces destroyed the pontoon bridge enemy troops were using to try to cross a river in the east, Ukrainian and British officials said.
It is another sign of Moscow’s struggle to salvage a war gone awry. Russia’s campaign in Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland of the Donbas has 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 an attempt by Russian forces to cross the river, 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 as well as equipment used to deploy the makeshift floating bridge.
“Conducting river crossings in a contested environment is a highly risky manoeuvre and speaks to the pressure the Russian commanders are under to make progress in their operations in eastern Ukraine,” 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 who said his country is “not of a favourable opinion” towards the idea. He accused Sweden and other Scandinavian countries of supporting Kurdish militants and others Turkey considers terrorists.
Mr Erdogan did not say outright that he would block the two countries from joining Nato, but the military alliance makes its decisions by consensus, meaning that each of its 30 member countries has a veto over who can join.
An expansion of Nato would be a blow to Russian president Vladimir Putin, who undertook the war in what he said was a bid to thwart the alliance’s easterly advance.
The invasion has stirred fears in other countries along Russia’s flank that they could be next.