Ukraine destroyed a strategically important bridge over the Sem River as it continued its invasion of Russia’s Kursk region.
According to Russian officials, the operation near the town of Glushkovo has cut off parts of the area.
The Kremlin uses the bridge to supply its troops, and its damage could hamper their efforts.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukrainian troops were strengthening their positions in Kursk and called the captured territories an exchange fund, meaning they could be exchanged for areas of Ukraine occupied by Moscow.
Now entering its second week, it is Ukraine’s deepest incursion into Russia since Moscow launched a full-scale invasion more than two years ago.
Unexpected cross-border operations in Ukraine have caused more than 120,000 people to flee to safety.
But Kiev has repeatedly insisted it does not want to occupy Russia amid Ukraine’s territorial claims.
“Ukraine is not interested in occupying Russian territory,” a top aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday.
Mikhailo Podolak said one of their main goals in invading Russia was to get Moscow to negotiate “on our own terms.”
“In the Kursk region we can clearly see how military tools can be used objectively to persuade Russia to enter a fair negotiation process,” he wrote on X, adding that Kyiv had proven to be an “effective means of coercion.”
Ukrainian military chief Alexander Silsky said on Friday that the offensive had made further progress.
“The troops of the offensive group continued to fight and advanced one to three kilometers towards the enemy in some areas,” he told President Zelensky in a video posted on social media.
Silski said he hoped to capture “many prisoners” from a battle in the village of Mala Loknya, about 13 kilometers (8 miles) from the border.
As Ukraine presses forward, officials in Russia’s Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, said they would evacuate five villages starting Monday.
Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on the Telegram social messaging app: “Starting from August 19, we will close access to five settlements, evict residents and Help them move out of their property.
However, as Ukraine moves further into western Russian territory, Russian forces are also making gains in eastern Ukraine.
On Friday, Moscow said its troops had captured Sershivka, the latest in a series of towns captured by Russian forces in recent weeks.
The latest development brings the Russians closer to the city of Pokrovsk, a vital logistical hub on the main route for supplies to Ukrainian forces on the eastern front.
Pokrovsk lies northwest of the Russian-controlled Donetsk region, which has been under Ukrainian fire since Friday morning, injuring several civilians.
The head of the city’s military administration, Sergiy Dobryak, sent a message on Thursday urging people to evacuate as Russia “rapidly approaches the suburbs.”
Earlier, Russian-appointed officials in the Moscow-controlled region of Ukraine’s Donetsk region blamed Kiev for an attack on a shopping mall that wounded at least seven people.
According to Denis Pushilin, the governor of the Russian-backed Donetsk People’s Republic, the city has been under shelling since noon on Friday.
Reuters quoted the head of the Donetsk region as saying that three civilians had been killed and five others injured in the past 24 hours.
A missile targeting a bridge built on orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin in Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, was shot down overnight, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Telegram.
Kiev has launched numerous attacks and attempted attacks on the Kerch Bridge since Moscow began its military offensive.
