On the Kupiansk front, Russian assault troops persist in their attempts to cross the Oskil River, even though most end up underwater. The invader's artillery tries to paralyze movement across bridges, says Yurii Fedorenko, commander of the 429th Separate Unmanned Systems Regiment “Achilles.”

In this area, the Russians have explicit orders to kill men and use children, the elderly, and women as human shields. The presence of civilian populations in the Kupiansk city itself makes the execution of combat tasks by the Ukrainian Defense Forces extremely difficult.

“We quickly detect where enemy artillery is located”

According to Fedorenko, the situation on the left bank of Kupiansk remains difficult — Russian attacks bridges across the river using drones and artillery, Army Inform reports. 

“But they do this only occasionally. Why? Because we manage to quickly detect where their artillery is and hit it effectively,” said the Achilles regiment commander.

Ukrainian drones and counter-battery units are effectively hunting down Russian guns, preventing them from holding steady firing positions.

Russian saboteurs seek new routes near Kupiansk

Another challenge is the attempts of Russian saboteurs to infiltrate the northern outskirts of the city. After Ukrainian forces destroyed the gas pipeline used by Russian troops to sneak under Kupiansk, the enemy changed tactics.

“They’ve chosen areas along the Oskil River that are the most overgrown — swampy terrain and places where vegetation comes closest to the water,
Fedorenko noted.

But for now, Kyiv troops are effectively destroying Russian forces in transit.

"Out of ten infantry soldiers, seven are eliminated on the left bank or while crossing the Oskil,” he explains. 

Ukrainian forces destroy enemy’s underwater route

Back in September, Ukraine’s Defense Forces flooded a gas pipeline under the Oskil River, which Russian troops had been using to penetrate the Kupiansk area. After the enemy’s movements were detected, Ukrainian forces delivered a precise strike on the pipeline.

On 12 September, the monitoring project Deep State reported that Russian troops had used gas pipelines to infiltrate Ukrainian lines three times — near Avdiivka, Sudzha, and now Kupiansk.

Ukrainian units have not only blocked this route but continue to destroy Russian attempts to fortify positions on the left bank of the Oskil.