Ukrainian forces reported Friday that they had retaken parts of the northeastern town of Kupiansk and encircled Russian troops there as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the area. The operation comes amid ongoing U.S.-backed peace efforts, with Zelenskyy stating the military gains would strengthen Ukraine’s position in diplomatic negotiations.
In a video posted on his social media account Friday, Zelenskyy appeared wearing a bulletproof vest standing in front of a sign bearing Kupiansk’s name at the entrance to the town. Explosions could be heard in the background as he spoke. “Today it is extremely important to achieve results on the front lines so that Ukraine can achieve results in diplomacy,” Zelenskyy said in the clip.
Russian Troops Surrounded in Kupiansk
Ukraine’s Khartiia Corps of the National Guard announced it had liberated several northern districts of Kupiansk. According to the corps, Russian supply routes have been cut off and several hundred Russian troops are now surrounded in the city. “Today, we can say that the Russians in the city are completely cut off. For a long time, they couldn’t understand what was happening. But now they know they are surrounded,” Ihor Obolienskyi, Khartiia’s commander, told the Ukrainska Pravda news outlet.
The operation represents a significant development in one of the most contested sectors of the 600-mile front line. Ukrainian units reportedly began cutting off Russian supply routes into Kupiansk starting on September 22, gradually regaining control of the villages of Kindrashivka and Radkivka, as well as several northern districts of the city. Fighting is currently ongoing in central Kupiansk, where more than 200 Russian soldiers are encircled, according to the National Guard statement.
Ukraine’s Deep State battlefield mapping project now shows at least three villages to the north and west of Kupiansk under Ukrainian control. The map indicates that Kupiansk’s northern districts are also under Ukrainian control, with Russian troops encircled in the city center.
Conflicting Claims Over Territory Control
Moscow has maintained it is advancing on all fronts and has seized both Kupiansk and the strategic city of Pokrovsk in the east. Kyiv has denied these claims, stating that fighting continues in these areas. On November 20, Russia’s top general Valery Gerasimov told President Vladimir Putin that Russian forces had liberated Kupiansk, a claim Ukraine has consistently rejected.
Zelenskyy’s frontline visit came just one mile from Russian positions, directly challenging Moscow’s territorial claims. The Ukrainian president was also filmed at the advanced command post of the 14th Separate Mechanised Brigade in Kupiansk, where he told troops on what is Ground Forces Day in Ukraine: “Without you, we would have lost our country.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry responded to the visit by claiming that while localized battles are taking place in the suburbs, “the territory of Kupiansk itself is fully controlled by the Russian Armed Forces.” Russia, which began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, did not immediately provide additional comment on the Ukrainian military’s assertions about encircled troops.
Broader Context of the Conflict
The developments in Kupiansk occur as the pace of Russian advances had picked up to its highest point this year in November, with troops moving forward and taking control of smaller villages. Russia said Thursday it had captured the eastern town of Siversk, though Kyiv maintains it remains under Ukrainian control.
In other recent military actions, a Ukrainian drone attack wounded seven people, including a child, in the Russian city of Tver on Friday. Falling drone debris struck an apartment building in the city, which lies northwest of Moscow. Russia’s air defenses destroyed 90 Ukrainian drones overnight, according to Russia’s Defense Ministry. Russian drones struck a residential area of Pavlohrad in Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region, killing one person and wounding four others.
