Kursk incursion aimed at creating 'buffer zone' — Zelenskyy

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the daring military incursion into Russia's Kursk region aims to create a buffer zone to prevent further attacks by Moscow across the border.

"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 said in his nightly address on Sunday.

"Our operation in the Kursk region is still inflicting losses on the Russian army and the Russian state, their defence industry and their economy," he said.

This weekend, Ukraine destroyed a key bridge in the region and struck a second one nearby, disrupting supply lines as it pressed a stunning cross-border incursion that began August 6, officials said.

Pro-Kremlin military bloggers acknowledged that the destruction of the first bridge on the Seim River near the town of Glushkovo will impede deliveries of supplies to Russian forces, repelling Ukraine's incursion, although Moscow could still use pontoons and smaller bridges.

Ukraine's air force chief, Lieutenant General Mykola Oleshchuk, on Friday, released a video of an air strike that cut the bridge in two.

Less than two days later, Ukrainian troops hit a second bridge in Russia, according to Oleshchuk and Russian regional Governor Alexei Smirnov.

As of Sunday morning, there were no officials giving the exact location of the second bridge attack. But Russian Telegram channels claimed that a second bridge over the Seim, in the village of Zvannoe, had been struck.

Buffer zones sought by both sides

In his remarks on creating a buffer zone, Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces "achieved good and much-needed results."

Analysts say that although Ukraine could try to consolidate its gains inside Russia, it would be risky, given Kiev's limited resources, because its own supply lines extending deep into Kursk would be vulnerable.

For his part, Russian President Vladimir Putin said while visiting China in May that Moscow's offensive that month in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region was aimed at creating a buffer zone there.

That offensive opened a new front and displaced thousands of Ukrainians. The attacks were a response to Ukrainian shelling of Russia's Belgorod region, Putin said.

"I have said publicly that if it continues, we will be forced to create a security zone, a sanitary zone," he said. "That's what we are doing."