Upheaval in Kupiansk: Russians fight 'desperately' in city they said they captured last month, Putin decorates general for it
Ukrainian soldiers in the Kupiansk area. Photo: Anatolii Lysianskyi / AP / Profimedia
Ukrainian forces continue the counteroffensive in the direction of Kupiansk, and even Russian ultranationalist bloggers recognize the seriousness of the situation in which Russian forces find themselves, notes the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). The development comes after Russian military chiefs reported to Vladimir Putin nearly a month ago that they had captured the city, and the Russian president decorated a general for it with the “Hero of Russia” order.
Ukrainian Joint Forces Group spokesman Col. Viktor Trehubov reported Monday that Ukrainian forces are continuing cleanup operations in Kupiansk and avoiding engaging in urban fighting, and Russian forces are using drones to supply the roughly 100-200 Russian soldiers remaining in Kupiansk, according to the latest assessment by the US think tank ISW.
Trehubov suggested that the logistical situation for Russian forces is complicated in Kupiansk because drones have limited carrying capacity, cannot fly over certain areas and occasionally drop supplies in a way that reveals Russian positions to Ukrainian forces.
A non-commissioned officer of a Ukrainian brigade operating in the direction of Kupiansk said that Ukrainian forces had liberated several nearby settlements and forest areas and that elements of his brigade were operating in northern Kupiansk. He said Russian forces continue to attempt infiltration missions to reinforce their positions in Kupiansk via a gas pipeline, but that Ukrainian forces have blocked the pipeline and have all possible exit points under artillery control.
Moscow's forces are fighting “desperately”, says a Russian blogger
Russian military bloggers have admitted that the situation of Russian forces in Kupiansk is deteriorating. One of them stated that Russian forces hold some positions in the north and center of Kupiansk, but the rest of the city is either a “grey area” or controlled by the Ukrainians.
Another military blogger stated that the situation of Russian forces in western Kupiansk is rapidly deteriorating; that elements of the 68th Motorized Rifle Division were “fighting desperately” and acknowledged that Ukrainian forces had advanced into Kupiansk and Myrove (immediately northwest of Kupiansk).
The blogger claimed that Moscow's forces no longer have numerical superiority in the area and that Ukrainian actions have blocked Russian operations.
He further said that Ukrainian advances in Kupiansk forced Russian drone operators to withdraw from the area on the eastern (left) bank of the Oskil River.
What happened in Kupiansk is also important because the Kremlin used claims of its alleged advances in the area for an information warfare campaign designed to portray Ukrainian lines as on the verge of collapse, so that Ukraine and the West would cave in to Russian demands, ISW points out.
How Zelensky ended up in the city the Russians said they had conquered
On November 5, Russia called on Ukrainian troops in Pokrovsk and Kupiansk to surrender, with Moscow's defense ministry claiming they had “no chance of saving themselves”, and on November 20, Russian army chief Valery Gerasimov publicly declared that his forces had fully captured Kupiansk.
General Sergey Kuzovlev repeated the claim in the presence of a Putin, dressed in a quasi-military uniform, who asked “so that's it, have you finished everything?”, receiving an affirmative reply from Kuzovlev.
For the “liberation of the city of Kupiansk”, Kuzovlev was awarded the title of Hero of Russia.
Also on November 20, Vladimir Putin claimed, quoted by TASS, that 15 battalions of the Ukrainian army are blocked in the area.
The next day, the Russian president declared that “the events of Kupiansk will inevitably be repeated in other key locations on the front line; perhaps not as quickly as we would like, but this is inevitable – and generally to our advantage.”
On November 27, during a discussion with journalists, Putin again referred to Kupiansk, saying that “as we know, the enemy formations are completely liquidated there.”
In the following weeks, Ukrainian forces launched a series of counterattacks, which resulted in the elimination of Russian assault forces from the center of the city.
The operation culminated with Volodymyr Zelenskiy's visit to the city center on December 12, when the Ukrainian president made a video clip of the monument bearing the city's name.
