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Russia on Sunday denied reports that Ukraine’s attack on the Kursk region had led to the collapse of indirect talks with Kiev on stopping attacks on energy and power targets, and launched another series of air strikes, including on Kiev.
The Washington Post Saturday Report Ukraine and Russia will send delegations to Qatar this month to negotiate a landmark deal to stop attacks on the warring parties’ energy and power infrastructure.
The Washington Post said the agreement was originally equivalent to a partial ceasefire, but the negotiations reached a deadlock due to Ukraine’s attack on Russian sovereign territory.
“No one is breaking any agreements because there is nothing to break,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said of the Washington Post report.
“There are no direct or indirect negotiations between Russia and the Kiev regime on the security of civilian critical infrastructure.”
The Ukrainian government did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The Washington Post reported that the Ukrainian presidential office said the Doha summit had been postponed due to the situation in the Middle East and would be held via video conference on August 22.
Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of attacking civilian infrastructure during the war, accusations both sides deny.
Zakharova then cited Russian President Vladimir Putin, who on August 12 questioned what negotiations could be held with Ukraine after it launched a ground offensive against Russia and attacked Russian civilian infrastructure.
“There is nothing to talk about with people who create this kind of thing,” Zakharova said.
“Kursk direction”
In February 2022, Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine for so-called “special military operations,” and Russia now controls about 18% of Ukraine’s territory. On August 6, Ukraine crossed the border and attacked the Kursk region, marking the first military incursion of Russian territory since World War II.
Ukraine’s air force destroyed another strategic bridge over the Seim River in Russia’s Kursk region, limiting the ability to resupply Russian forces resisting the Ukrainian advance, Ukrainian commanders said on Sunday.
Kiev says it has seized more than 80 settlements across 1,150 square kilometers in the Kursk region since launching a surprise assault on the Russian border on Aug. 6, Russia’s largest incursion since World War II.
“Kursk direction. One less bridge! The Ukrainian Air Force aviation continues to deprive the enemy of its logistical capabilities through precision air strikes, which significantly affects the course of hostilities,” Mykola Oleshchuk said on the Telegram messaging app.
He uploaded a video showing an explosion on a bridge, smoke billowing and a section of the bridge destroyed. Reuters could not independently confirm the destruction of the bridge or the situation at the Kursk battlefield.
Earlier, military analysts said that in the area where the Ukrainian army is attacking, two of the three bridges used by Russia to supply its troops had been destroyed or seriously damaged.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday thanked Ukrainian troops taking part in Operation Kursk and on the Eastern Front and asked the country’s allies to speed up the delivery of promised military aid.
“Our actions in the Kursk region are still causing damage to the Russian army and the Russian state, its defense industry and economy,” Zelensky said in an evening televised address.
“Regarding deliveries from our partners, we need to speed up, we very much want to. There are no holidays in war,” Zelensky said.
Russian air strikes
Ukraine’s air defenses repelled overnight Russian air strikes, including on Kiev, destroying all 11 drones launched by Moscow targeting Ukrainian territory, the country’s air force said on Monday.
The Russian Air Force said on the Telegram messaging app that the drones were destroyed in the Nikolayev, Cherkasy, Vinnitsa, Kiev, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Sumy and Donetsk regions.
There were no immediate reports of any damage from the attack or drone debris.
(Editing by Georgi Gotev)
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