On the afternoon of November 13, a column of Russian armored vehicles managed to enter the city of Kupyansk in the Kharkov region, the Ukrainian military claimed that this landing force was eventually destroyed.
On November 13, the Russian military, using several armored vehicles, tried to enter Kupyansk, but the Ukrainian Defense Forces repelled the enemy. The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces announced that the Ukrainian military stopped the advance of the invaders towards the city, destroyed all armored vehicles and removed a significant part of the manpower. “Kupyansk is fully under the control of the Ukrainian Defense Forces,” the statement said.
The importance of Kupyansk
Kupyansk is an important railway and transport hub in the Kharkov region. It was occupied at the beginning of a full-scale war, but was liberated by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the fall of 2022.
The city, located on both banks of the Oskol River, became a fortified area of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and potentially provided an opportunity to prepare offensive operations deep in the Russian-occupied territory of the Lugansk region, especially in cities of Svatovo and Kremennaya.
Therefore, it is especially important for the Russian army to drive the Ukrainians out of Kupyansk and, in general, from the eastern bank of Oskol in order to secure their occupied territories. The Russians began implementing this plan in the fall of 2023.
Since then, Russian offensive operations have continued both near Kupyansk itself and to the south of the city, where the Russian army in October of this year managed to reach the Oskol River and cut off the Ukrainian bridgehead.
As for the city itself, for a long time the battle took place at a distance of 7-9 km from its eastern outskirts. It was also destroyed by Russian aircraft in daily airstrikes.
Breakout test
On November 13, it became known about the first attempt of the Russian Federation to directly attack the borders of Kupyansk.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that from 14:30 on Wednesday, the Russian military began to break the Ukrainian defense in the direction of Kupyansky. “Enemy groups attacked the positions of Ukrainian defenders in four waves. In total, the enemy deployed about 15 pieces of equipment. In particular, tanks, armored combat vehicles and the UR-77 mine clearing installation,” the General Staff said in a statement.
Moreover, according to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, some of the Russian soldiers were wearing Ukrainian Armed Forces model uniforms. Such actions violate the laws and rules of war and are a war crime, the General Staff notes. Official Russian sources did not comment on these statements of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
According to DeepState, the Russians attacked two columns moving from the Liman First area. That is, the Russian armored groups cover about 9 km to Kupyansk.
The first column includes two armored tractors (MT-LB), an infantry fighting vehicle and a tank. The composition of the second column is unknown, as it attacked the Ukrainian positions after dark.
As DeepState writes, one MT-LB was shot down in the forest on the way to Kupyansk, the other managed to escape to its eastern outskirts and was destroyed in the Zaoskolye area on Nekrasova Street. About 15 Russian military personnel parachuted from it, who fled and hid in nearby houses.
On the same street, a Russian tank was destroyed. According to DeepState, part of the Russian military was also discovered and removed. The reinforcements sent by the Russian command were also hit, the Ukrainian project claims.
Defense problems
The question arose: how did the Russian column, which was almost unstoppable, overcome the line of defense and burst into the city, which should be reliably protected from all sides?
DeepState analysts refer to the “strange” deployment of combat formations of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the forest north of Kupyansk.
“In recent months, the line of contact has become a mystery for all units. The combat formations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the enemy are simply scattered throughout the forest, the rotations of both sides is underway, and the war in the forest looks “strange,” said the review of the Ukrainian project.
DeepState asks law enforcement agencies to respond to the actions of the brigade command, which is responsible for this section of the front.
Ukrainian military blogger Alexander Karpyuk (Serg Marco) believes that the reason for the breakthrough in the direction of Kupyansk is the lack of mining units in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. They need to mine the attack paths of enemy attack groups in advance. He also points to the lack of FPV drone crews that can attack the enemy during the attack.
Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.