Russia damages bridge in Kherson Oblast, governor urges evacuations

A Russian airstrike damaged a key bridge in Ukraine's Kherson Oblast on Aug. 2, prompting local officials to urge residents to evacuate. The strike occurred around 6 p.m. local time, when Russian forces dropped two guided bombs on the city of Kherson.

A Russian missile strike hit the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv overnight on Aug. 2-3, destroying private homes and damaging civilian infrastructure, according to Ukrainian officials. Three civilians were hospitalized with injuries.

Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR) conducted a joint operation with local partisans to blow up a minibus in occupied Melitopol, killing all five soldiers of the Russian-backed Akhmat unit on board.

Russian forces are "looking for vulnerabilities in our defense, and conducting active combat operations in several directions simultaneously," Commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi reported.

Kyiv has submitted an updated version of the Ukraine Plan for the European Commission's consideration, following the EU's decision to cut the next tranche of the Ukraine Facility due to incomplete reforms.

Oleksii Kuznetsov, a member of parliament who belongs to Zelensky's Servant of the People party, allegedly accepted kickbacks for inflating military contracts. He has been dismissed from his parliamentary faction pending the outcome of the case.

The attack killed a 12-year-old boy and left a 13-year-old hospitalized with shrapnel wounds, Governor Oleh Hryhorov said.

The Indian government has "not given any direction to oil companies" to reduce Russian imports, one senior official told the New York Times.

"Viktoria was one of those who spoke the truth about the war. She worked on the front lines and in temporarily occupied territories, risking her life," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

"I just want to make sure that his (Dmitry Medvedev's) words are only words and nothing more than that," U.S. President Donald Trump said.

The Kyiv Independent's Francis Farrell and Olena Zashko spent a day with two drone teams of the 20th Brigade of Ukraine's National Guard, known as Liubart, that are holding a sector south of Kostiantynivka.

The unidentified drone entered Lithuanian airspace on the morning of July 28, prompting a days-long search.

The recent Russian attack damaged two houses, a market, a shop, and administrative building and several cars, Donetsk Oblast Governor Vadym Filashkin said.