Only several dozen Russian soldiers remain inside the northeastern city of Kupyansk without proper supply lines, and Moscow has effectively acknowledged the failure of its attempts to hold the city, a Ukrainian military official said.
According to state media Ukrinform, Viktor Trehubov, head of communications for Ukraine’s Joint Forces grouping, said Russian units left in Kupyansk are increasingly surrendering, including foreign mercenaries fighting on Russia’s side.
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“Kupyansk currently has several dozen [Russian troops],” Trehubov said during a televised briefing. “They are surrendering. There have even been cases of foreigners – foreign mercenaries for the Russians – giving themselves up.”
Russian supply lines cut, morale collapses
Trehubov said the remaining Russian forces are operating without full logistical support and rely largely on limited air resupply – a situation he described as unsustainable.
“Supply by air bridge alone is not something that allows them to hold out for long,” he said.
Russian assault activity continues, but without meaningful results. According to Trehubov, Russian forces carry out several attacks per day, yet lack the reserves or regrouping capacity needed to change the situation on the ground.
“At this stage, they simply do not have additional capabilities to somehow restore the situation,” he said.
Russian propagandists concede defeat
In a notable shift, Trehubov said Russian military bloggers and so-called war correspondents have dramatically changed their rhetoric in recent days, publicly conceding that Kupyansk has been lost.
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“Yesterday, an entire wave of messages appeared saying that Kupyansk is gone – that it has been lost,” he said. “Even Russian propagandists have switched to a line acknowledging that the city is no longer under their control.”
He said, however, that Russia never fully captured Kupyansk, except for a brief period in 2022 following the initial invasion.
“In reality, it was never fully taken by them in order to be ‘lost,’ aside from a short period in 2022,” Trehubov said.
Failed attempt to entrench in northern districts
According to the Ukrainian official, Russian units that attempted to entrench themselves in the northern parts of Kupyansk were defeated and no longer have the means to reverse their losses.
“They themselves now admit that the defense of the city by the same units that entered and tried to secure positions in the northern districts has failed,” Trehubov said. “And that freeing those units is no longer possible.”
Russian pressure persists mainly on the outskirts of the city from the opposite bank of the Oskil River, rather than through direct urban control.
Continued fighting on the Kupyansk axis
Despite the deteriorating Russian position inside the city, fighting along the Kupyansk axis remains active.
Ukraine’s General Staff reported that on Dec. 24, Russian forces launched five attacks in the Kupyansk sector. Ukrainian troops repelled assaults toward Petropavlivka, Pishchane, Zahryzove and Kupyansk itself.
Trehubov said a recent Ukrainian counterattack caught Russian forces off guard, further undermining their ability to stabilize the front.
“The counteroffensive came as a surprise for the enemy,” he said. “Right now, they simply lack the resources to regain control.”
Kupyansk and Russia’s long-running claims
Russian claims of having secured Kupyansk are not new. As early as November, Moscow publicly asserted control over the city – assertions that Ukrainian officials called fake at the time.
An important industrial and logistical hub with a pre-war population of around 27,000, Kupyansk sits along key rail and road routes in the Kharkiv region.
The city was captured by Russian troops during the initial phase of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, before being liberated by Ukrainian forces in September of the same year during a rapid counteroffensive. Since then, Ukrainian officials have repeatedly stressed that Kupyansk has not returned to sustained Russian control, despite periodic claims to the contrary from Moscow.
The information battle surrounding Kupyansk has mirrored the fighting on the ground. In mid-December, President Volodymyr Zelensky released video footage from inside the city to demonstrate that it remained under Ukrainian control.
Moscow later dismissed the images as staged, with Russian President Vladimir Putin claiming they were generated using artificial intelligence – a claim Ukrainian officials and independent observers have described as part of a broader disinformation effort to obscure setbacks and sustain the narrative of territorial control.
The latest developments, Ukrainian officials say, now underscore the gap between Kremlin messaging and battlefield reality, as Russian forces inside the city remain isolated, undersupplied and increasingly surrendering.