Why Russia seeks to capture Ukraine’s Kupiansk

Pavlo Narozhnyi, founder of the Reactive Mail charity organization, told Hromadske Radio that Russian forces are focusing efforts near Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region because of the city’s strategic rail hub.

“Kupiansk-Vuzlova is a large railway station, there is a railway junction there,” he said, noting that control over it would allow Russia to strengthen logistics in the area.

According to Narozhnyi, Russian troops have managed to cross the river and secure a foothold on the bank where Kupiansk is located. However, their logistics remain difficult. “Yes, they have a foothold there, but to say that they can amass large forces and move on — they would need more than ten thousand troops to break through, to repeat what is happening near Pokrovsk,” he added.

Pavlo Narozhnyi noted that Russian forces attempted to exploit infrastructure in their advance. “There has been a lot of discussion about the pipeline; there is a gas pipeline that runs under the river. If they transport something across, they either build pontoon bridges, which are destroyed by drones or artillery, or they have to do it by boat, and boats are also destroyed. Therefore, they tried to use this gas pipeline — they took electric scooters and rode them across it. But our troops knew the exit point very well and destroyed them during their exit. Still, some of these troops managed to get into the city and were eliminated there,” he said.

Narozhnyi stressed that the situation, while challenging, is not critical. “When it comes to urban warfare, we are talking about a relatively small number of troops that have infiltrated the city,” he added.