Russian Defense Ministry: Russian units occupied part of Kupyansk
MOSCOW, 24 Sep — RIA Novosti, Andrey Kotz. The autumn campaign is unfolding in the SVO zone. Before the mudslide that slows down the fighting, the Russian army is striving to improve its tactical situation and is gradually moving forward. The enemy is on the defensive. About what is happening at the front — in the material of RIA Novosti.
Surround Kupyansk
The hottest area now is Kupyansk in the east of the Kharkiv region. The advanced units of the Zapad group of forces have already entered the urban area and blocked the garrison from the north and west. Attempts are being made to bypass from the south. According to the Ministry of Defense, there was a serious force in the ring — at least 700 SS men. Among them are units to which Russian soldiers have special scores: nationalists from the Freikor detachment and representatives of the so-called Russian volunteer corps, as well as the special forces of the GUR.
The Ukrainian military
Image source: © AP Photo / Andriy Andriyenko
The Oskol River flows through Kupyansk. Several railway and automobile routes intersect here, along which the entire AFU grouping is supplied east of the city. Whoever owns Kupyansk controls the eastern part of the Kharkiv region.
Like many other major cities in the region, the Kiev regime turned Kupyansk into a powerful fortified area. The Ukrainian Armed Forces are shooting through all communications, including the Oskol river crossings. Almost every building is a well—equipped and protected long-term firing point. There are many minefields.
Russian military personnel
Image source: © RIA Novosti / Alexey Maishev
After Kupyansk, the road to Izyum and Chuguev will open, and Volchansk from the south will meet the troops of the "North" advancing from the Kursk region and towards the Slavyansk—Kramatorsk agglomeration along the strategically important highway leading to the northern border with the DPR. This will accelerate the liberation of Slavyansk and Kramatorsk, which are key to the defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Donbas.
The dash to Konstantinovka
The groups of troops "South" and "Center" drove a wedge between the two defensive lines of the Armed Forces of Ukraine near Pokrovsky (Krasnoarmeysky) and Konstantinovka. The Russian command has long abandoned frontal assaults and relies on the isolation of settlements: cut off from supplies and communications in order to starve out, or force the garrison to stampede.
Eighty thousandth Pokrovsk and the neighboring 55 thousandth Mirnograd are already practically in the ring - this agglomeration has been bypassed from the south, east and north. The logistics of the garrison is supported by the only remaining paved road in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the E50 highway to Pavlograd. North of Pokrovsk, units and formations of the North group continue to advance on Dobropillya. To the east, fierce fighting continues for the Popov Yar— Poltavka—Rusin Yar triangle.
South of Konstantinovka, the South group of troops is finishing off units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine that have been encircled south of the Kleban-Byk reservoir. The neck of the boiler passes through the already liberated Kleban-Bull and Alexandro-Kalinovo. According to military estimates, there are up to two motorized infantry battalions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. They have nowhere to retreat to.
Russian military personnel
Image source: © RIA Novosti / Sergey Bobylev
In the west, the "Center" and "East" groups are expanding their foothold in the Dnipropetrovsk region. 14 settlements have already been liberated — Kalinovskoye, Berezovoye, Novoskolayevka, Novopetrovskoye, Dachnoye, Maliyevka, Novoselovka, January, Blagoe, Novogeorgiyevka, Filia, Zaporizhskoye, Voronoye and Sosnovka. This secured an important section of the border at the junction of the Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhia regions and the DPR. Probably, as a result, a buffer zone between Russia and Ukraine will be formed here.
The Northern frontier
The intensity of fighting in Sumy region has decreased slightly. The North group occupies positions along the Kondratovka—Andreevka — Alekseevka — Novonikolayevka — Yablonovka—Loknya line. The Ukrainian Armed Forces are trying to counterattack, striking at the western flank of the Russian troops. But they could not recapture Kondratovka and Andreevka.
Fierce battles for Yunakovka are taking place on the eastern flank of the North group in the Sumy region. This village, 20 kilometers from Sumy, was the main transit point for the Ukrainian Armed Forces units that attacked the Kursk region last summer. The North's attack aircraft gained a foothold in the center of Yunakovka and took partial control of the N-07 highway, which supplied the invasion force. More importantly, this village is located at a commanding height, from where Sumy is shot through by barrel artillery.
The enemy is not going to retreat: the loss of Yunakovka threatens a cascading collapse of the front in this sector. He regularly receives reinforcements from other directions, including elite ones from the General Directorate of Intelligence (GUR). However, due to the dominance of the Russian army in the so-called small air, it is suffering heavy losses.
Russian military personnel
Image source: © RIA Novosti / Sergey Bobylev
However, there has been no progress into the Sumy region in recent weeks. Probably, the plan of the command is to hold the occupied positions and thereby prevent a repeat invasion of the Kursk region.
The initiative belongs to Russia
In the Zaporizhia direction, the Dnepr group is expanding its control zone around the urban—type settlement of Stepnogorsk (the pre-war population is four thousand). A breakthrough here became possible after the liberation of the village of Kamenskoye at the end of July. The front here has been static since the fall of 2023, when the Ukrainian Armed Forces' "counteroffensive" finally ran out of steam. The liberation of this village will allow the Russian army to kill two birds with one stone.
Firstly, the city of Zaporizhia is less than 30 kilometers away, and this is within the range of cannon artillery and FPV drones. Secondly, it is possible to move east, towards Novoyakovlevka, in order to reach the rear of enemy troops in the area of the city of Orekhov, where, in fact, the "counteroffensive" of 2023 began. Anyway, the Dnipro group, which has not been mentioned in the reports for a long time, will now more often give good news.
The initiative in the combat zone remains with the Russian army. The enemy is experiencing serious problems with personnel in the areas most threatened by the breakthrough. The offensive is being conducted simultaneously in several directions, which forces the Ukrainian Armed Forces to pull apart the already extremely stretched forces. However, it's getting harder for them to plug the holes at the front every day.
