Moscow’s forces push south of the Ukrainian city of Kupiansk, Russian commander says

Russian forces have pushed deep into the Ukrainian city of Kupiansk and curled southwards to capture a series of train stations, a Russian commander on the ground said on Tuesday.

The commander, who gave his call sign as “Hunter” and identified himself as being in charge of Russia’s 1486th Motorised Rifle Regiment’s assault detachment, said his forces had taken control of an oil depot on the eastern edge of Kupiansk.

In a video statement issued by the Defence Ministry, he said that his forces had also taken control of a series of train stops along the railway to Kupiansk Vuzlovyi, a settlement which is about 6 km (4 miles) south of the centre of Kupiansk itself.

Russian forces were also fighting to clear the railway station at the nearby settlement of Kupiansk-Sortuvalnyi, he added.

Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield report.

Russia has been using pincer movements to try to encircle the Ukrainian cities of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region and Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region, though Ukraine said on Monday it had delivered supplies to Myrnohrad, east of Pokrovsk.

Russian war bloggers published an unverified video on Tuesday showing what they said were Russian forces entering Pokrovsk along a road enveloped in fog or mist.

Reuters could not immediately verify the location of the video and when it was shot.

Russian forces on motorcycles and in an odd assortment of cars and other vehicles, many missing doors and windows, were shown driving along a road strewn with debris as soldiers looked on. Some Russian soldiers sat on the roof of a battered vehicle. A drone was seen beside the road.

Ukraine’s top military commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, in an interview with the New York Post, said Russia was concentrating some 150,000 troops in a drive to capture Pokrovsk, with mechanised groups and marine brigades part of the push.

Syrskyi told the same newspaper that Ukrainian forces were using built-up urban areas to limit the progress of Russian troops and were confronting Russian sabotage units.