Russian assault on Ukraine's Kupiansk mounts pressure on northeastern front
Russian infantry managed briefly to advance into the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kupiansk on Wednesday before being repelled by Kyiv's army, local authorities said Thursday. The city, an important railway hub, was taken by Russia in the early days of Moscow's invasion then retaken by Ukraine in a counteroffensive months later.
A small Russian assault group briefly broke through to the outskirts of Ukraine's northeastern city of Kupiansk for the first time since Moscow's forces fled in September 2022, officials said, in a sign of mounting pressure on the outpost.
Moscow's forces, including soldiers disguised as Ukrainian troops, attacked in four waves on Wednesday, but were repelled from the city, an important railway hub with a pre-war population of 26,000, Ukraine's general staff said.
"They partially entered the suburbs, the industrial zone, and were destroyed by our troops... There were assault actions using heavy armoured vehicles, there were attempts to bring in infantry," the city's military administration chief said.
The city, now just 2.5 km (1.5 miles) from the front line, was under constant shelling and the population has dwindled to 3,000 people who were being urged to evacuate, the official, Andriy Besedin, told Reuters by phone.
Russia's military has not commented on the Kupiansk front, but Vitaly Ganchev, a Russian official, said Moscow's forces were gaining a foothold on the city's outskirts.
Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield accounts.
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