Viktor Tregubov, head of communications for Ukraine’s Joint Forces grouping, says Kupyansk remains isolated, with Russian forces holding positions in the northern part of the city. He said Russian troops tried to enter from another direction and failed, but managed to push into the region on another stretch.
“The four most active sectors for us right now are, first, the Southern Slobozhansk direction, especially around Vovchansk; the Kupyansk direction; the Lyman direction; and the Velykyi Burluk direction, particularly in recent days,” the serviceman said on a national news broadcast on November 11.
He said fighting is underway inside Kupyansk itself, with Russian troops present on the city’s northern outskirts.
“The city is effectively isolated - cut off from supply routes by the heavy presence of drones on both sides. Getting anything in there is a task with an asterisk,” the spokesman stressed.
According to him, in parallel, Russian forces are trying to push Ukrainian troops off the left bank of the Oskil River with the aim of entering Kupyansk from yet another axis. That effort has not succeeded and is taking losses, he said, adding that fewer than a hundred Russian fighters are inside the city.
On the Velykyi Burluk axis, Russian forces have managed to push Ukrainian troops somewhat back from the state border and make a shallow advance. Tregubov said Russian troops have been applying pressure there for a long time.
“Perhaps they tried to create some kind of bridgehead there to put pressure on the Kupyansk direction from the north. Perhaps, if something had worked out for them, they would also have moved toward Velykyi Burluk. But as of now, they haven’t been able to develop anything there, even though the pressure is serious,” he added.
Earlier, Kostyantyn Nemichev, founder of the “KRAKEN” unit, said Russia’s strategic plans include linking units in Vovchansk and Dvorichna, and that recent Russian actions could point to preparations for further offensives.
On November 11, Foreign Affairs wrote that “this winter could be decisive” for the war in Ukraine and that, if Donbas falls, Russian forces could launch an offensive on Kharkiv.
