Ukrainian Attacks On Key Kursk Bridges Hamper Russian Logistics

Ukrainian forces are attacking key Russian supply routes, including roads and bridges, clearly hampering Russian logistics and making their defensive efforts in Kursk oblast even more difficult. JL

Howard Altman reports in The Drive Warzone:

Ukrainian forces targeting the key E-38 highway in Kursk with FPV drones are raising new alarms about a halt to Russian logistics. The highway runs across the middle of Kursk eastward from just over the Ukrainian border. It is a major logistics supply route for Russian forces, located about 15 miles north of the leading edge of Ukraine’s advance in this part of Kursk. Ukrainian Special Forces destroyed a rare Russian Sapphire electronic warfare system in Kursk. The system is designed to counter drones, boosting area defenses. An ABC News crew was struck by the massive number of Ukrainian vehicles traveling back and forth from Russia, the vastness of the territory Ukraine invaded 

Ukrainian forces targeting a portion of the key E-38 highway in Kursk with first-person view (FPV) drones are raising new alarms among some local Russian leaders and milbloggers. Ukraine is hitting that area to halt Russian logistics.

 

The Rylsk Bridge in particular has been a hotspot. An image appeared on social media of one burning vehicle on that span claimed to have been hit in an FPV drone strike.

 

The highway runs across the middle of Kursk eastward from just over the Ukrainian border. It is a major logistics supply route for Russian forces, located about 15 miles north of the leading edge of Ukraine’s advance in this part of Kursk.

An advisor to acting Kursk Gov. Alexei Smirnov recently raised concerns about these attacks.

“For the second day, the enemy has been striking the Rylsk Bridge with FPV drones,” Roman Alekhine wrote on Telegram. “They are hitting both the military and civilians.”

Alekhine called for greater protection for the bridge and urged civilians to evacuate the area.

“We have been talking about the fact that the enemy will soon begin to fly to the Rylsk-Lgov highway for more than a week,” he complained. “And we recommended evacuating not only to save lives, but also to avoid interfering with the military. We were told that we were causing panic.”

The Romanov_Light Telegram channel chided Russian leadership for not paying more attention to the problem.

“Chief of the General Staff of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation Valeri Gerasimov announced to the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin that ‘the enemy’s advance deep into the territory in the Kursk direction has been stopped,” he wrote “Was he deliberately covering the Ukrainian Armed Forces?”

It is unclear if Ukrainian forces have the ability, or the interest, to push closer to the bridge.

“In particular, attempts continue to bypass Korenevo and take fire control of the E-38 highway (Rylsk – Lgov – Kursk), where enemy attack drones sometimes reach (although the prospects of the occupation corps directly reaching it are extremely unlikely),” the Russian MiG of Russia Telegram channel wrote on Wednesday.

Even if it can’t reach the highway, Ukraine can slow the flow of Russian forces and materiel by making the E-38 difficult to transit.

 

A new facet of modern warfare, these drones provide an aerial precision-strike capability that can put a major roadway, and specific moving vehicles on it, at risk from many miles away without the need for fixed or rotary-wing strike aircraft that would be highly vulnerable to air defenses.

 

Google Earth image

Despite the dangers, Russian drivers trying to avoid being attacked have received speeding tickets. That’s because traffic cameras on the highway have recorded them exceeding the limit. Some motorists have tried covering their license plates to avoid the tickets, but traffic police are forcing them to remove them.

An ABC News crew recently spent some time across the border from Kursk. Reporter Patrick Reevell said among other things, he was struck by the massive number of vehicles traveling back and forth from Russia, the vastness of the territory Ukraine invaded and how the Russians taken prisoner were young conscripts with little support.

 

Ukrainian Special Forces destroyed a rare Russian Sapfir (Sapphire) electronic warfare system in Kursk. The system is designed to counter drones, boosting area defenses. It uses a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter bus chassis as a platform, according to the Ukrainian Militinari news outlet.