Russia's Foreign Ministry said Saturday it thwarted Ukraine’s rocket strike on the Crimean Bridge, calling it a “terrorist attack” and vowing retaliation.
Ukrainian forces targeted the Crimean Bridge and several other unspecified targets Saturday on the Crimean Peninsula with S-200 rockets and drones, but there were no casualties or damage, according to Russia's Defense Ministry.
The 19-kilometer-long (11.8 mile) bridge that connects Russian-annexed Crimea to Russia has come under repeated attack from Ukrainian forces since Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.
Meanwhile, the British Defense Ministry said Saturday that Russian troops fighting in Ukraine are about to get a break from the fighting. In its daily intelligence update, the ministry said that early in July the commander of the 58th Combined Arms Army was fired, probably partially because he said elements of his forces “needed to be relieved.”
The ministry said Russia is “likely” redeploying airborne forces’ units from the Kherson region to the heavily contested Orikhiv sector in Zaporizhzhia oblast. The report said the 58th Combined Arms Army has been engaged in combat since June.
In addition, the Defense Ministry report said the arrival of the airborne forces’ units will also allow the 70th and 71st Motor Rifle Regiments, which have been under heavy fire, to take a break from the front line. However, this move, according to the report, “will likely leave Russia’s defenses near the east bank of the Dnipro River weaker, where they’re increasingly harassed by Ukrainian amphibious raids.”
Poland said Saturday that it has increased the number of troops on its border with Belarus as a deterrent amid “destabilizing” efforts by its pro-Russian neighbor.
Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak visited some of the troops recently deployed close to the Belarus border.
He said this week that up to 10,000 Polish Army and Territorial Defense troops will be stationed on the border with Belarus. Some will be in active training and patrolling, others on standby.
Two Belarus military helicopters briefly entered Poland’s airspace last week, a move considered by Warsaw to be a provocation.
Polish Defense Minister Blaszczak said that such actions by Belarus “pose a threat to our security” and for that reason Poland is building up its “deterrence potential.”
According to analysts, Poland has become the personification of the “collective enemy of Russia” due to its support for Ukraine and because western military equipment sent to Ukraine goes through Poland.
Belarusian independent analyst Valery Karbalevich told The Associated Press that “Moscow very much doesn’t like that it is Poland that insists on new sanctions, advocates for Kyiv and actively supports Ukraine’s accession to the EU and NATO.”
Poland is also concerned about the presence in Belarus of Wagner Group mercenaries and about sending migrants to the border in an act of “hybrid warfare” aimed at creating instability in the West.
An elderly woman and a police officer were killed early Saturday by Russian shelling on a settlement in Kharkiv region in eastern Ukraine and Zaporizhzhia in the south. Twelve others were injured, Ukrainian officials said.
On Friday, Russia’s airstrikes also targeted civilian infrastructure in western Ukraine killing an 8-year-old child. In a statement late Friday, France condemned the attacks as "war crimes and must not go unpunished," France's foreign ministry said in a statement late on Friday.
The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it would reinforce its military support to Ukraine, notably in strengthening air defense capacities, in close cooperation with its partners.
"France's support to Ukrainian and international jurisdictions to fight against the impunity of crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine remains total," the statement read.
The White House says it is committed to training Ukrainian pilots on F-16s in the United States once such training programs in Europe have reached capacity.
White House spokesman John Kirby said at a press briefing Friday it is important to speed up the process of pilot training on the military aircraft as well as caring for maintenance and other logistics.
"It's going to be a while before jets can show up in Ukraine and for them to be integrated into the air fleet,” he said. “And it's not just a function of the transfer of actual airframes, but … the appropriate training for pilots as well as setting up all the maintenance, logistics and sustainment efforts.”
Kirby noted that English language training for Ukrainian specialists is also critical.