Russia says Ukraine has hit third bridge in assault on Kursk region

KYIV, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Moscow said on Monday Ukraine had struck a third bridge in an assault on Russia's Kursk region which Kyiv says is aimed at carving out a buffer zone and wearing down Russia's war machine.

Ukraine says it has seized over 80 settlements in an area covering more than 1,150 square km (444 square miles) of Kursk since its surprise strike on the Russian region on Aug. 6, the biggest invasion of Russia since World War Two.

But Ukrainian forces are on the defensive elsewhere and face a battle to protect the strategic eastern city of Pokrovsk, where Russia has steadily advanced in recent weeks in heavy fighting more than two years since Russia's full-scale invasion.

"We are achieving our goals," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wrote of the two-week-old incursion into Kursk on the Telegram messaging app on Monday, adding that more Russian soldiers had been taken prisoner.

Russia said a third bridge had been struck and damaged on the Seym River that winds through the Kursk region bordering northeastern Ukraine.

Ukraine has not yet commented on the strike, but Kyiv's air force chief has previously said his forces have destroyed two bridges to weaken enemy logistics.

Military analysts said the bridges were part of critical supply lines for Russian troops defending the area. Reuters could not independently confirm the damage to the bridges or the battlefield situation in Kursk.

Zelenskiy said on Sunday his troops were unleashing what he described as "maximum counteroffensive actions" aimed at creating a buffer zone and hurting Moscow's military potential.

"Everything that inflicts losses on the Russian army, the Russian state, their military industrial complex and their economy - all this helps us to prevent the widening of the war," Zelenskiy said.

More than 121,000 people have been evacuated from nine border districts in the Kursk region, Russia's emergencies ministry said.

Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said Moscow was not ready to hold peace talks with Ukraine for now, given Kyiv's Kursk attack. Ukraine has demanded a full withdrawal of Russian troops from its territory before it sits down for any talks.

Ukrainian forces face a tough battle near Pokrovsk, a transport hub for Ukrainian forces. Russian troops are now around 10 km (six miles) from the outskirts of the city, said Serhiy Dobriak, head of the local military administration.

He said up to 600 people were leaving on a daily basis, and that municipal services could be cut off within a week as Russian forces close in.

Regional governor Vadym Filashkin said a curfew in settlements close to Pokrovsk had been tightened and the situation was "very difficult".

Ukraine's top general said Kyiv was also "doing everything necessary" to defend the eastern city of Toretsk as Moscow tries to threaten Ukrainian supply lines. Russia said its forces had captured the nearby town of Zalizne.

The war, which has killed tens of thousands and devastated cities across Ukraine, shows no sign of letting up. Kyiv expects Moscow to boost its forces in Ukraine by year's end to 800,000, up from around 600,000 now, Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Ivan Havryliuk told Ukrainian media.

Ukraine has been backed by arms from its allies but is worried that support may drop as the war grinds on.

Britain reiterated support for Ukraine on Monday, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to visit Kyiv on Aug. 23.

But German defence stocks fell on Monday after a newspaper said the finance ministry would not approve additional applications for Ukraine military aid because of budget constraints.

A German finance ministry spokesperson later said Berlin was working intensively with its Group of Seven partners on a plan to make loans available for military support for Ukraine, funded by the proceeds of frozen Russian assets.

In a new sign of tensions over explosions in 2022 that ruptured the Nord Stream gas pipelines transporting gas under the Baltic Sea, Russia's RIA news agency said Moscow had complained to Germany over its investigation into the incident.