Russian forces appear close to being pushed out of the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kupyansk, with only a small number of isolated forces remaining and even pro-Kremlin voices admitting defeat, according to a report.
The Kyiv Post reported Thursday that Ukrainian military officials said Russian units left inside the city had been cut off from reliable supply lines and were surrendering as their situation worsened.
Viktor Trehubov, head of communications for Ukraine’s Joint Forces Group, said Russian troops inside Kupyansk now numbered only a few dozen and included foreign mercenaries fighting alongside Moscow’s forces.
“They are surrendering,” Trehubov said in a televised briefing carried by Ukrainian state media. “There have also been cases of foreigners – foreign mercenaries for Russians – giving themselves up.”
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An evacuation van travels through the largely destroyed frontline city of Kupyansk, Ukraine, January 6, 2025.
According to Ukrainian officials, the remaining Russian units are living largely on limited air resupply, a strategy that cannot sustain long-term operations inside the city.
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“The only supply from the air bridge is not something that will allow them to stop for long,” Trehubov said.
While Russian forces continue to launch multiple offensives along the Kupyansk axis every day, Ukrainian officials say those offensives lack the manpower and reserves needed to shift the balance on the ground.
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A Ukrainian army chaplain talks to Ukrainian soldiers at a shelter in the direction of Kupyansk, Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine, March 13, 2024.
“At this stage, they don’t have additional capabilities to somehow restore the situation,” Trehubov said.
The Kyiv Post also reported that Russian military bloggers and war correspondents have begun to openly acknowledge that Kupyansk is no longer under Russian control, marking a significant shift in Kremlin-aligned messaging.
“A whole wave of messages appeared saying that Kupyansk was gone,” Trehubov said. “Russian propagandists have also switched lines, acknowledging that the city is no longer under their control.”
Ukrainian officials stressed that Russia could not fully re-establish control over Kupyansk after its independence in September 2022, except for a brief occupation in the early stages of the invasion.
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“In fact, they didn’t take it completely to ‘lose’, except for a short period in 2022,” Trehubov said.
Attempts by Russian units to dig into the city’s northern districts have failed, leaving those troops unable to withdraw or receive reinforcements, Ukrainian officials said.
“They have now admitted that the same units that entered the northern districts and tried to secure the position failed to defend the city,” Trehubov said.
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Members of an anti-UAV unit conduct mortar training as Ukrainian soldiers from the 115th Brigade Mortar Unit test an FPV drone interceptor in Lyman, Ukraine.
Fighting continues outside the city, particularly from positions across the Oskil River, although Ukrainian forces remain in control of Kupyansk itself.
Ukraine’s General Staff said that Russian forces launched five attacks in the Kupyansk region on December 24, all of which were repulsed near Petropavlivka, Pischenye, Zahryzov and Kupyansk.
Trehubov said recent Ukrainian counter-operations further hampered Russian efforts to stabilize the front.
“The counterattack came as a surprise to the enemy,” he said. “Right now, they lack the resources to regain control.”
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Kupyansk, the main rail and road center of the Kharkiv region with a population of about 27,000, has long been at the center of Russian territorial claims.
The city was briefly captured in the early months of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022 before being liberated by Ukrainian forces later that year, a history Ukrainian officials say Moscow has repeatedly tried to obscure through disinformation.
Original article source: Russian Army Near Collapse in Kupyansk After Moscow Allies Admit Town Lost: Report
