Russian forces near collapse in Kupyansk as Moscow allies concede city lost: report
Russian forces appear poised to be pushed back from the northeastern Ukrainian town of Kupyansk, with only a small number of isolated troops remaining and even pro-Kremlin voices acknowledging the setback, according to a report.
The Kyiv Post reported Thursday that Ukrainian military officials say Russian units remaining inside the city are cut off from reliable supply lines and are increasingly surrendering as their position deteriorates.
Viktor Trehubov, communications chief of Ukraine’s Joint Forces Group, said Russian forces inside Kupyansk now number only a few dozen and include foreign mercenaries fighting alongside Moscow’s troops.
“They are surrendering,” Trehubov said during a televised news briefing broadcast by Ukrainian state media. “There were even cases where foreigners, foreign mercenaries for the Russians, surrendered.”
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An evacuation van drives through the largely destroyed frontline town of Kupiansk, Ukraine, January 6, 2025.
According to Ukrainian officials, the remaining Russian units are surviving largely on limited aerial resupply, a tactic that cannot support long-term operations inside the city.
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“Airlift resupply alone does not allow them to hold out for long,” Trehubov said.
As Russian forces continue to launch multiple assaults along the Kupiansk axis every day, Ukrainian officials say these attacks lack the manpower and reserves needed to shift the balance on the ground.
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A Ukrainian army chaplain talks with Ukrainian soldiers at a shelter in the direction of Kupiansk, Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine, March 13, 2024.
“At this stage, they simply do not have additional capabilities to restore the situation,” Trehubov said.
The Kyiv Post also reported that Russian military bloggers and war correspondents have begun openly admitting that Kupyansk is no longer under Russian control, marking a notable shift in Kremlin-aligned messaging.
“A whole wave of messages appeared saying that Kupiansk had disappeared,” Trehubov said. “Even Russian propagandists have taken a line recognizing that the city is no longer under their control.”
Ukrainian officials have stressed that Russia never fully reestablished control over Kupiansk after its liberation in September 2022, aside from a brief occupation at the start of the invasion.
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“In reality, they never fully took this amount to ‘lose’ it, except for a short period in 2022,” Trehubov said.
Efforts by Russian units to entrench themselves in the city’s northern neighborhoods failed, leaving those forces unable to withdraw or receive reinforcements, Ukrainian officials said.
“They themselves admit that the defense of the city by the same units that entered and tried to secure their positions in the northern districts failed,” Trehubov said.
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Ukrainian soldiers from the 115th Brigade Mortar Unit conduct mortar training while members of the anti-UAV unit test an FPV drone inhibitor in Lyman, Ukraine.
Fighting continues outside the city, particularly from positions across the Oskil River, although Ukrainian forces maintain control of Kupyansk itself.
The Ukrainian General Staff said Russian troops carried out five attacks in the Kupyansk sector on December 24, all of which were repelled near Petropavlivka, Pishchane, Zahryzove and Kupyansk.
Trehubov said a recent Ukrainian counteroffensive had further disrupted Russian efforts to stabilize the front.
“The counter-offensive was a surprise to the enemy,” he said. “Right now, they just don’t have the resources to regain control.”
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Kupiansk, a key rail and road hub in the Kharkiv region with a pre-war population of around 27,000, has long been a focal point of Russian territorial claims.
The city was briefly occupied during the early months of Russia’s full-scale 2022 invasion before being liberated by Ukrainian forces later that year, a story that Ukrainian officials say Moscow has repeatedly tried to obscure with disinformation.
Original article source: Russian forces near collapse in Kupiansk as Moscow’s allies acknowledge city’s loss: report
