According to Ukrainian war correspondent Bohdan Miroshnikov, the situation facing Ukrainian forces in the Kupyansk direction remains extremely difficult and has been deteriorating for months.
Miroshnikov said the left bank of the Oskol has become especially dangerous for Ukrainian units. He described troops there as being under constant artillery, drone and glide-bomb attacks while also struggling with disrupted logistics and the river cutting off movement from the rear.
He added that even routine troop rotations in this sector have turned into complex operations that do not always succeed. Supply deliveries and personnel changes are particularly difficult on the left bank, where Ukrainian units face persistent problems maintaining stable access to frontline positions.
In Miroshnikov’s assessment, attempts to measure territorial control in percentages have little practical value under such conditions. If units cannot be moved in and out normally or supplied with what they need, he argued, formal control lines become largely conditional. He also said the situation near Kupyansk is worse for Ukrainian forces than it was around Konstantinovka.
Conditions on the right bank of the Oskol are somewhat better because the river has less impact on logistics there. However, Miroshnikov said Russian forces continue striking supply routes in that area as well. Overall, he described the Ukrainian position in the Kupyansk direction as close to catastrophic.