Moscow’s troops have improved their forward positions near the key Ukrainian city of Kupiansk, the Russian Defense Ministry reported on Monday. Ukrainian authorities had previously ordered a mandatory evacuation of the area around the logistics hub.
The Russian military said the troops had fended off four attacks east of Kupiansk, a strategically important settlement in Kharkov Region. The most intense fighting took place near the villages of Sinkovka and Novosyolovskoye in Russia's Lugansk People’s Republic, the ministry said in a daily briefing.
The northern portion of the front line near Kupiansk has emerged as the scene of a Russian push against Ukrainian troops, as Kiev’s attempts to conduct a counteroffensive in the south falter.
Less than two weeks ago, the Kupiansk municipal administration announced a mandatory evacuation of the city and dozens of other settlements. On Monday, rumors circulated online that at least part of the administration had moved out of the city, though this was not officially confirmed.
Its acting head, Andrey Kanashevich, appeared to refute the speculation by posting images of what he claimed to be a recent meeting with other officials. There was also a photo of him standing next to a local attraction, a monument to a beaver, wrapped in a red-and-black Ukrainian nationalist flag.
Kupiansk is a railway logistics hub located some 120km from the regional capital, Kharkov. Russia seized the city shortly after hostilities with Ukraine broke out in February 2022, but Kiev retook it months later, when Moscow pulled back troops to take more favorable defensive positions.
In June, Ukraine launched a new counteroffensive, which Kiev claimed would result in the seizure of territory. However, the operation has proven to be largely unsuccessful so far, with only a handful of villages captured amid intense fighting.
The Ukrainian government has blamed a shortage of Western weapons and the failure of its sponsors to supply combat aircraft for the outcome. Moscow claims that Kiev has lost more than 43,000 troops and dozens of pieces of heavy weapons, including those manufactured by NATO members, in its futile attacks.