Heavy fighting has continued for several years around Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region. After Russian forces captured the city in February 2022, Ukrainian troops retook it in September that year, but in the summer of 2023 the Russian army resumed efforts to regain the settlement.
On November 20, 2025, Chief of the Russian General Staff Valery Gerasimov reported to Vladimir Putin that Kupiansk had been taken, and on December 2 Putin said Russian troops fully controlled both the right-bank and left-bank parts of the city. By December 12, however, according to the Ukrainian side, Ukrainian units had broken through to the Oskil River, retaken part of the city and encircled some Russian forces.
On January 12, 2026, fighters from the 2nd Corps of Ukraine’s National Guard, known as Khartiia, said they had taken control of the Kupiansk city council building and raised the Ukrainian flag above it. Video from the site was published by the unit’s reconnaissance-strike group.
On January 15, Gerasimov again said Kupiansk remained under Russian control. According to his account, Ukrainian forces had tried to use drones to place flags on administrative buildings in order to simulate their presence. He also said the Russian army was completing the establishment of control over the area of the Kupiansk-Vuzlovyi station.
Military expert Roman Svitan told the outlet that Ukrainian forces almost completely control the destroyed city, but clearing it of the remaining Russian troops could take from several days to a month, so for now it is more accurate to describe Kupiansk as a gray zone.
Military researcher Kirill Mikhaylov also said that, according to Ukrainian sources, several more weeks may be needed to finish the clearing operation. In his assessment, the number of Russian troops still in the city may amount to at most dozens. Military and political observer Oleksandr Kovalenko likewise said Ukrainian forces control both parts of Kupiansk, while Russian groups are trying to hide within the urban area and receive supplies by transport drones.
The outlet’s sources said the capture of Kupiansk was operationally important for Russia because of the crossings over the Oskil River and the area of Kupiansk-Vuzlovyi. At the same time, they argued that claims about the seizure of that settlement do not match reality, and that any new Russian attempt to advance in the Kupiansk sector may take at least another six months.