Ukraine’s General Staff has denied claims that Russian forces entered the city of Kupyansk in the Kharkiv region.
“The situation in the city of Kupyansk and its surroundings is under the control of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” the army command said in a Facebook post on Saturday, September 13.
The statement said Russian troops continue attempts to amass on the northern outskirts of Kupyansk.
“The exit from the pipeline that the enemy used to move personnel toward Kupyansk is under the control of Ukraine’s defenders. The pipeline does not lead directly into the city,” the General Staff added.
It also stressed that there are several pipelines in the Kupyansk area; three of the four strands are already damaged and flooded, and the exit of the fourth is under Ukrainian control.
Ukraine’s General Staff said a counter-sabotage operation has been underway inside Kupyansk for the past two weeks, along with “search-and-strike actions” around the city.
Since the start of the operation, Russian forces have lost nearly 400 personnel, including 288 killed, the statement said. These figures could not be independently verified.
Andriy Besedin, head of the Kupyansk city military administration, called conclusions by Ukrainian OSINT project DeepState about a Russian presence in the city and street fighting “premature.” The situation in the area is difficult, he said, but battles are taking place on the outskirts, and the entire city remains under Ukrainian control.
Besedin also denied media reports that Russian troops used a gas pipeline to get behind Ukrainian lines. Earlier, several “Z-bloggers” published video showing Russian soldiers inside a gas pipe, and some OSINT projects said it was filmed near Kupyansk.
Besedin said Russian movement through a gas pipe did occur, but “the exit from the pipeline that the enemy used to move personnel toward Kupyansk is under the control of Ukrainian defenders.” “The pipeline does not lead directly into the city,” he added.
Analysts with DeepState had noted there are already positions in Kupyansk for launching Russian drones.
Earlier, Russian forces used a gas pipeline to move underground into the town of Sudzha in Russia’s Kursk region, which had been under Ukrainian control for several months.
At the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, Kupyansk - a key transport hub on the approach to Kharkiv - was occupied by Russian forces, but Ukraine recaptured the city that autumn.
In summer 2023, Russian forces launched a new push toward Kupyansk but have not taken it.
In November 2024, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Kupyansk; at the time, Russian forces were several kilometers northeast of the city.
On September 3, 2025, Russia’s Defense Ministry said it had launched an operation to take control of Kupyansk and surrounding areas, releasing drone footage it claimed showed Russian troops holding about half the city.
On August 30, 2025, Russian army chief Valery Gerasimov said units of the “West” grouping had “almost completely blockaded” Kupyansk and “liberated” about half its territory.
