Russia: Ukraine Used Western Rockets to Destroy Bridge

This photograph taken on 16 August, 2024, during a media tour organized by Ukraine, shows a destroyed border crossing point near the Ukrainian-controlled Russian town of Sudzha, Kursk region, amid the Russian invasion in Ukraine. (Photo by Yan DOBRONOSOV / AFP)
This photograph taken on 16 August, 2024, during a media tour organized by Ukraine, shows a destroyed border crossing point near the Ukrainian-controlled Russian town of Sudzha, Kursk region, amid the Russian invasion in Ukraine. (Photo by Yan DOBRONOSOV / AFP)
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Russia: Ukraine Used Western Rockets to Destroy Bridge

This photograph taken on 16 August, 2024, during a media tour organized by Ukraine, shows a destroyed border crossing point near the Ukrainian-controlled Russian town of Sudzha, Kursk region, amid the Russian invasion in Ukraine. (Photo by Yan DOBRONOSOV / AFP)
This photograph taken on 16 August, 2024, during a media tour organized by Ukraine, shows a destroyed border crossing point near the Ukrainian-controlled Russian town of Sudzha, Kursk region, amid the Russian invasion in Ukraine. (Photo by Yan DOBRONOSOV / AFP)

Russia's foreign ministry said Ukraine had used Western rockets, likely US-made HIMARS, to destroy a bridge over the Seym river in the Kursk region, killing volunteers trying to evacuate civilians.
"For the first time, the Kursk region was hit by Western-made rocket launchers, probably American HIMARS," Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry, said late on Friday on the Telegram messaging app.
"As a result of the attack on the bridge over the Seym River in the Glushkovo district, it was completely destroyed, and volunteers who were assisting the evacuated civilian population were killed."
Ukrainian army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Friday that Kyiv's forces were advancing between 1 and 3 kilometers (0.6 to 1.9 miles) in some areas in the Kursk region, 11 days since beginning an incursion into Russia.
Kyiv has claimed to have taken control of 82 settlements over an area of 1,150 square kilometers (440 square miles) in the region since Aug. 6.
Reuters could not independently verify either side's battlefield accounts.
Russia has accused the West of supporting and encouraging Ukraine's first ground offensive on Russian territory and said Kyiv's "terrorist invasion" would not change the course of the war.
The United States, which has said it cannot allow Russian President Vladimir Putin to win the war he launched in February 2022, so far deems the surprise incursion a protective move that justifies the use of US weaponry, officials in Washington said.



Netanyahu Insists Israel Will Not Allow Iran to Acquire Nuclear Weapons

 President Donald Trump, left, greets Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, Monday, April 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP)
President Donald Trump, left, greets Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, Monday, April 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP)
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Netanyahu Insists Israel Will Not Allow Iran to Acquire Nuclear Weapons

 President Donald Trump, left, greets Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, Monday, April 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP)
President Donald Trump, left, greets Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, Monday, April 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted on Thursday that Israel would not allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons, even as US President Donald Trump attempts to negotiate a new nuclear deal with Tehran.

Netanyahu's remarks were his first on the issue since US-Iran talks began earlier this month, and followed a report that former President Trump had blocked an Israeli plan to strike Iran's nuclear sites.

"As the prime minister has stated many times: Israel will not allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons," a statement from Netanyahu's office said.

Israel and western governments have long accused Iran of pursuing nuclear weapons capability, an allegation Tehran has consistently denied.

Even before the war in Gaza, sparked by Hamas's October 2023 attack, Netanyahu repeatedly took issue with Iran for its backing of Hamas and other armed groups Israel is currently fighting.

"The prime minister has led countless overt and covert actions in the battle against Iran's nuclear program, without which Iran would today possess a nuclear arsenal," the statement said.

"These actions delayed Iran's nuclear program by nearly a decade."

Netanyahu's statement comes ahead of a second round of Omani-mediated negotiations between US and Iranian delegations set to take place in Rome on Saturday.

Trump's efforts to reach a deal with Iran on its nuclear program through mediation appear in contrast to Netanyahu's long-standing policy to tackle the issue using military action.

"Prime Minister Netanyahu has been leading the global campaign against Iran's nuclear program for over a decade, even when some dismissed the threat and referred to it as a 'political spin' and called the prime minister 'paranoid,'" his office said.

In March, Trump sent a letter to Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei urging talks but warning of possible military action if they failed to produce a deal.

While Netanyahu has been pushing the US to also take firmer action, a report in the New York Times on Wednesday said Trump had scuppered an Israeli plan to strike Iran's nuclear sites.

Trump administration officials revealed to the Times that Israel had sought Washington's assistance to carry out an attack on Iranian nuclear facilities in May.

According to the report, the plan and its possible maneuvers were under consideration for months.

But during Netanyahu's visit to the White House earlier this month, Trump told the Israelis he would not support an attack. The president instead publicly announced the direct talks with Tehran.

On Thursday, UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi urged the two sides to secure a deal, saying that time was running out.