Russia claimed on Tuesday (12/16/2025) to be in “control” of Kupiansk, a key city in northeastern Ukraine where Ukrainian forces recently claimed to have captured several neighborhoods from the Russian army. “The city of Kupiansk is under the control of the Russian 6th Army,” Leonid Sharov, spokesman for the Russian military group Sapad (“West”) stationed in the area, told the official Russian agency TASS.
Russia claimed to have captured Kupiansk in November, and Ukraine later claimed to have recaptured several neighborhoods of the city, even visiting troops last Friday. Sharon also reported that “a group of Colombian mercenaries” had been eliminated near the city with artillery fire and Russian drones, which Russian forces had already announced on Saturday.
An important railway junction is controversial
Sharov noted that “every day the enemy tries to infiltrate small groups into the city through the city cemetery, but in the process suffers heavy losses in troops and fighting machines.” However, he acknowledged that there remain “isolated enemy groups in the city, blockaded in two buildings in the Yubileini district” and announced that these forces “will be destroyed shortly.”
The conflicting messages surrounding Kupyansk come after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said yesterday that there had been “progress” in negotiations with the United States to end the conflict with Russia. Meanwhile, the Europeans are pushing forward the proposal for a multinational force to guarantee peace in Ukraine. Zelensky visited the troops in Kharkiv on Friday. Russia practically won the battle for the Kupyansk railway junction at the end of October, something Ukraine still disputes to this day.
LGC (AFP, EFE)
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