Ukraine says it retakes parts of Kupiansk, encircling Russian troops

PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative photo — A Ukrainian service member fires an RPG-7 rocket launcher during an exercise in Donetsk Region, Ukraine, November 29, 2024. (Oleg Petrasiuk/Press Service of the 24th King Danylo Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces/Handout via Reuters)

KYIV  -  Ukrainian forces have retaken parts of the northeastern town of Kupiansk and several villages around it in an operation that encircled Russian troops, a Ukrainian military commander said on Friday.

The Russian military said in November that it had taken full control of Kupiansk. Ukraine denied the city had changed hands and fighting continued there.  

Reuters could not immediately verify the battlefield reports.

"Today, we can say that the Russians in the city are completely cut off. For a long time, they couldn't understand what was happening. But now they know they are surrounded,"     Ihor Obolienskyi, commander of the Khartiia Corps of the National Guard, was quoted by the Ukrainska Pravda news outlet. 

Russian supply routes had been cut off and several hundred Russian troops surrounded, Khartiia said on the Telegram messenger. 

Russia, which began its full-scale invasion of Ukrainein February 2022, did not immediately comment. 

With U.S.-backed peace efforts under way, Moscow has said it is advancing on all fronts. Moscow says its troops have also seized the strategic city of Pokrovsk in the east but Kyiv has denied this, saying fighting continues. 

On Thursday, Russia said it had captured the eastern town of  Siversk. Kyiv says it is under Ukrainian control.

Ukraine's Deep State battlefield mapping project now shows at least three villages to the north and west of Kupiansk under Ukraine's control. 

Kupiansk's northern districts are shown as also under Ukrainian control and the map suggests Russian troops are encircled in the city centre. 

 (Reporting by Yuliia Dysa; Editing by Alison Williams and Timothy Heritage // REUTERS)