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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5084, 10 July 1877, Page 2

The telegrams regarding the Russo-Turkish war, which we received and published aa an extra yesterday, and 1 which appear in another column of this issue, are in the main confirmatory of formerly received news. There is now no doubt as to the defeat of the Russians in Asia, and the statement that the Turks repulsed the advanced guard of the invader at Biela turns out, in fact, to mean that a hard battle was fought there, and that the troops under the Grand Duke Nicholas are not making much headway from Sistova. Hitherto, however, the telegrams had led us to suppose that the main body of the Russians had crossed at Simnitza and Sistova, the head-quarters being established at the latter place, and that the invasion of the Dobrudsoha was by a subsidiary force. But from the last telegrams it is apparent that the Russian main force is in the Dobrudscha, having got south of Babudagh. If so, their passage of the Danube is as nothing to the difficulties which await them before they really invade Turkey, by forcing a passage at the old Roman wall, between the river and Kustendji. If this be the case, and the force under the Grand Duke Nicholas be only a subordinate one, then has he too a difficult task. Suliman Bey, with the troops that lately operated against the Montenegrins, is marching to the aid of Abdul Kerim, the Turkish Commander-in-Chief, and it is quite on the cards that the Russian troops in Bulgaria may be cut off from their base and destroyed, or compelled to fall back across the river, that is if the Turkish monitors will let them.