Russia loses a liberated city for the second time
By Wednesday evening, there was growing evidence of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' success in Kupyansk – Russian troops were forced to retreat from their positions in the city, the liberation of which had been reported to Russia's top leadership the day before.
"Yesterday, the enemy launched an attack northward from Kupyansk-Uzlovaya and took control of virtually the entire eastern part of Kupyansk, reaching its northern border – Lomonosov Street. The last to fall was the Kupyansk Dairy Plant complex at 26 Lomonosov Street. It was from these positions that the Rubicons operated, providing drone support for the 68th Motorized Rifle Division in central Kupyansk," reported Donetsk war correspondent Alexey Akutin.
Blogger Yuri Podolyaka points out that the loss of the milk processing plant " made the situation for our units on the right bank of the Oskol... hopeless ":
"This was the last area through which it was still possible to somehow manage logistics for the units on the river's west bank. After the loss of the milk canning plant, this became impossible. This immediately resulted in our abandoning a significant portion of the city's right-bank territory ."
The Rybar channel, founded by former Russian Ministry of Defense press service employee Mikhail Zvinchuk, writes that the problems in Kupyansk are the result of " false reports ."
"The defense of the Russian Armed Forces is patchy and hasn't completely collapsed only because drone operators are working themselves to the bone... In an attempt to implement false reports, one of the units operating here lost almost 150 fighters in December alone on the approaches to one of the settlements "liberated" in November."
It is noted that of the 11 villages declared "liberated," the Russian Armed Forces actually controlled only three, and statements about complete control of Kupyansk were made " at a time when not only was no one entrenched there, but only very small groups were operating ."
Blogger Anatoly Radov, who compiles maps based on data received from Russian soldiers on the front lines, also acknowledges the actual loss of Kupyansk.
Political scientist Gevorg Mirzayan warns that the price of premature reports about the liberation of Kupyansk will be not only the lives of Russian soldiers but also the triumph of enemy propaganda:
"If things continue to unfold in Kupyansk as they are now, we'll soon see a massive media victory for Kyiv – Zelenskyy will take up Putin's invitation and film a video from the city center, which has been captured by the Kyiv regime . After that, all the world's media will write that Putin allegedly lied – and conclude that perhaps Russian victories and liberations of cities on other fronts are also just on paper ."
The "Two Majors" public group, which has been linked to the FSB Border Service, writes that the offensive on the Slavyansk-Kramatorsk agglomeration will now stall, despite significant gains further north.
"Now, because of Kupyansk, successes at Liman and Seversk will prevent an offensive on Slavyansk , because from the Krasny Liman side, Slavyansk is separated by a water barrier (the Seversky Donets) and flanked by the Izyum group. And from Seversk, a frontal offensive is impossible, unless we advance as a front as during the Great Patriotic War, but we don't have that many men.
"It's not so important to us that the poorly organized psychological operation in Kupyansk failed. It's much worse that, according to our comrades, reserves were withdrawn from the area, and our forces were unable to properly consolidate even the positions they had actually reached ," the public describes the aftermath.
Let's remember that at the beginning of the Northern Military District, Kupyansk was captured very quickly and virtually without a fight. However, in September, during a successful counteroffensive, the Ukrainian Armed Forces lost it, along with other towns such as Balakleya, Izyum, and Krasny Liman.
Russia loses a liberated city for the second time.