Russia’s Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov told a meeting with Vladimir Putin that Russian forces had captured Huliaipole in the Zaporizhzhia region and Myrnohrad in the Donetsk region. Putin replied that the pace of Moscow’s offensive supposedly reduces Russia’s interest in the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops and said its objectives would be achieved by military means. At the same time, the Russian Defense Ministry acknowledged that Ukrainian troops are still present in Kupiansk.
Ukraine’s military command called the claims of major Russian battlefield successes fake. According to Kyiv, the defense of Huliaipole is still underway, and in Myrnohrad Russian units have still failed to carry out their plans to seize the Pokrovsk-Myrnohrad urban area.
Huliaipole
Oleksandr Kovalenko, a military and political observer with the Information Resistance group, said most of Huliaipole is already under Russian control. He described the announcement of its capture as being made “on credit,” meaning the claim came before the assault had actually been completed. According to him, Russian forces control the left bank of the Haichur River, while Ukrainian troops hold the western and southwestern parts of the city.
An anonymous analyst from CIT said it is still premature to speak of Huliaipole’s full capture, but that it may be only a matter of days or a week.
According to the experts cited by the outlet, the fall of Huliaipole would give Russia a bridgehead with road and rail access for further pressure on the Zaporizhzhia direction. At the same time, they say it is still too early to speak of an immediate threat to the city of Zaporizhzhia itself.
Myrnohrad and Kupiansk
In Myrnohrad, Kovalenko and the CIT analyst said heavy urban fighting is continuing: the southern part of the city is under Russian control, but there is no basis yet to say the whole city has fallen. Positions are intermingled, and the Ukrainian garrison faces severe logistical problems, relying mainly on drones for supplies. The loss of Myrnohrad, the experts argue, could increase pressure on Pokrovsk and open new offensive directions. In Kupiansk, by contrast, Ukrainian forces are still clearing out the remnants of Russian assault groups cut off from their main forces. The CIT analyst said Gerasimov’s statements about the capture of the cities are part of Moscow’s negotiating strategy and do not fully reflect the real situation on the ground.