Zelensky filmed a video message against the backdrop of a stele with the inscription “Kupyansk” on December 12, Ground Forces Day.
The Russians “very concentratedly fired at the stele” on December 15–16, the journalists’ interlocutors said.
“They suggested that the invaders hit the stele only because the president was filming himself next to it – and now the Russians were trying to make it simply look different. According to them, such a massive attack on the stele had no other practical benefit at all,” the media writes.
Consequently, Ukrainian fighters believe, Russian propagandists are trying to prove that Zelensky allegedly was not in Kupyansk.
Speaker of the Joint Forces Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Viktor Tregubov told LIGA.net that theoretically, “nothing prevents the occupiers” from targeting the Kupyanskaya stele with drones, and “technically this is possible.”
According to him, the situation in Kupyansk has not changed: the occupiers are surrounded.
“There is a gradual cleanup, complicated by urban conditions and, sometimes, the use of civilians as human shields, so this will continue for some time,” Tregubov explained.
On December 16, Zelensky announced that he had visited Kupyansk to show the world that the illegitimate Russian President Vladimir Putin is lying about the alleged capture of this city.
Context
On October 22, Russian media wrote that the command of the Russian army had already promised Putin the capture of Kupyansk and Pokrovsk, therefore, in order to improve the positions of the occupying forces, Moscow was delaying the peace negotiation process.
On October 26, the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the aggressor country of the Russian Federation, Valery Gerasimov, reported to Putin about the alleged encirclement of Ukrainian troops near Kupyansk and Pokrovsk. This was denied in Ukraine.
On December 9, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Alexander Syrsky announced that “successful counter-sabotage operation” continues in Kupyanskand emphasized that “the volume of Russian lies is many times higher than the real pace of advance of Russian troops.”
