According to a report, Russian troops appear to be on the verge of being expelled from the northeastern Ukrainian city of Koupyansk, with only a small number of isolated forces remaining and even pro-Kremlin voices acknowledging the setback.
The Kyiv Post reported Thursday that Ukrainian military officials say Russian units remaining in the city have been cut off from reliable supply lines and are increasingly surrendering as their position deteriorates.
Viktor Trehubov, communications chief of the Ukrainian Joint Forces grouping, said Russian forces in Kupyansk now number only a few dozen, including foreign mercenaries fighting alongside Moscow’s troops.
“They are surrendering,” Trehubov said during a televised briefing broadcast by Ukrainian state media. “There have even been cases where foreigners – foreign mercenaries for the Russians – surrendered themselves.”
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An evacuation van drives through the largely destroyed city of Kupiansk, Ukraine, January 6, 2025. (Wolfgang Schwan/Anadolu via Getty Images)
According to Ukrainian officials, the remaining Russian units are surviving largely on limited air supplies, a tactic that cannot sustain sustained operations in the city.
“Airlift supply alone is not something that will keep them going for long,” Trehubov said.
While Russian forces continue to launch multiple attacks every day along the Kuyansk axis, Ukrainian officials say these attacks lack the manpower and reserves needed to change the balance on the ground.
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A Ukrainian army chaplain talks to Ukrainian soldiers in a shelter toward Kupiansk, Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine, March 13, 2024. (Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“At this stage, they simply do not have additional options to somehow remedy the situation,” Trehubov said.
The Kyiv Post also reported that Russian military bloggers and war correspondents have begun to openly admit that Kupyansk is no longer under Russian control, marking a notable shift in Kremlin reporting.
“A whole wave of messages appeared saying that Kupyansk has disappeared,” Trehubov said. “Even Russian propagandists have switched to a line of recognizing that the city is no longer under their control.”
Ukrainian officials emphasized that Russia never fully regained control of Kupyansk after its liberation in September 2022, apart from a brief occupation during the early phase of the invasion.
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“In reality, it has never been fully absorbed by them to be ‘lost’, except for a brief period in 2022,” Trehubov said.
Attempts by Russian units to entrench themselves in the city’s northern districts have failed, preventing these forces from withdrawing or receiving reinforcements, Ukrainian officials said.
“They themselves now admit that the defense of the city by the same units that entered the northern districts and tried to secure positions failed,” Trehubov said.
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Ukrainian soldiers from the 115th Brigade Mortar Unit conduct mortar training as members of the Anti-UAV Unit test an FPV drone bucket in Lyman, Ukraine. (Jose Colon/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Fighting continues outside the city, mainly from positions across the Oskil River, although Ukrainian forces maintain control of Kupyansk itself.
The Ukrainian General Staff said Russian forces carried out five attacks in the Kupyansk sector on December 24, all of which were repulsed near Petropavlivka, Pishchane, Zahryzove and Kupyansk.
Trehubov said a recent Ukrainian counter-offensive has further disrupted Russian efforts to stabilize the front.
“The counter-offensive came as a surprise to the enemy,” he said. “Right now, they simply lack the resources to regain control.”
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Kupyansk, a major rail and road hub in the Kharkov region with a pre-war population of about 27,000, has long been a flashpoint for Russian territorial claims.
The city was briefly occupied during the early months of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022 before being liberated by Ukrainian forces later that year, a history that Ukrainian officials say Moscow has repeatedly tried to cover up through disinformation.
