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“Situation Worse Than Critical”: Russian War Bloggers Report Setbacks in Kupiansk
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Russian pro-war military bloggers reported on December 24 that Ukrainian forces have largely regained control of Kupiansk, a key railway hub in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, casting doubt on earlier Russian claims of capturing the city.
According to several pro-war channels, units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have pushed Russian troops out of much of the western bank of the Oskil River, which runs through Kupiansk.
The Telegram channel Rybar, which is considered close to the Russian Defense Ministry, said Russian forces had lost “a significant part of the bridgehead,” including the villages of Kondrashivka, Radkivka and Moskovka.
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“The situation in Kupiansk itself is, to put it mildly, worse than critical—including on the eastern bank,” Rybar wrote, adding that Ukrainian troops have reestablished control near the local milk-canning plant and continue to hold the settlements of Kucherivka and Petropavlivka.
Russian defenses in the area were described as fragmented and sustained mainly by drone operations conducted “to the point of exhaustion.”
Rybar also criticized what it called false reporting up the chain of command, alleging that inflated battlefield reports presented to Vladimir Putin came at a heavy cost. The channel claimed that one Russian unit operating near Kupiansk lost nearly 150 soldiers in December alone.
“There was no proper consolidation in the city either before or after the announcement of its ‘liberation,’” Rybar said, arguing that reserves deemed unnecessary for securing Kupiansk were redeployed elsewhere based on inaccurate assessments.
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Another pro-war Telegram channel, Two Majors, echoed these claims, stating that key nearby settlements—including Pishchane, Kurylivka and Petropavlivka—were not under Russian control and that withdrawn reserves left frontline units unable to hold even the positions they had reached.
Earlier, separate reports said Russian officers in one unit issued orders while severely intoxicated and without a clear understanding of the battlefield situation, contributing to what was described as the unit’s worst losses since fighting began.
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