Moscow assures that its army has managed to surround Ukrainian troops in the strategic city of Kupiansk
The chief of the Russian General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, assured this Sunday that the army has managed to surround the Ukrainian troops in the strategic city of Kupiansk, in the eastern region of Kharkiv.
The announcement coincides with the visit to a command center by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who asked to guarantee the surrender of enemy soldiers to minimize casualties, according to the Ministry of Defense on its Telegram channel. “In order to minimize unnecessary casualties, I ask you, as we have done in the past, to take all necessary measures to ensure the surrender of Ukrainian soldiers, those, of course, who wish to do so,” he says.
Gerasimov explains that the assault detachments of the Západ (Western) military group wrested from the enemy control of the left bank of the Oskol River south of Kupiansk, which had more than 25,000 inhabitants before the war. For this reason, he adds, Russian troops have managed to surround up to 18 Ukrainian battalions, which would include both mechanized units and national guard brigades.
The general also highlights that the units of the Tsentr group (center) have besieged 31 enemy battalions in the Pokrovsk area, a city that the Russians have been trying to take since mid-2024.
Both Kupiansk and Pokrovsk are key to taking control from the north and south of the two main strongholds of the Ukrainian army in Donbas: Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.
The planned summit in Budapest between Putin and US President Donald Trump was canceled due to the Kremlin’s refusal to declare a ceasefire in Ukraine. Putin, who demands that kyiv withdraw from Donbas, maintains that his army has the initiative in all sectors of the front and that it can achieve its objectives on the battlefield. (Efe)
