![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Zelenskyy-Kupiansk-800-1024x576.jpg\")
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the outskirts of Kupiansk on December 12, 2025, where he said Ukrainian forces are \u201cgetting the job done.\u201d <\/p>\nUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the outskirts of Kupiansk on December 12, 2025, where he said Ukrainian forces are \u201cgetting the job done.\u201d <\/p>\n
Ukrainian forces appear to have reclaimed ground in and around the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kupiansk, where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a surprise visit on Friday. The Ukrainian gains, which defy earlier Russian claims to have captured the city, give Kyiv a much-needed victory amid setbacks elsewhere on the battlefield and in peace negotiations to end the nearly four-year-long war.<\/p>\n
Ukrainian forces are \u201cgetting the job done\u201d in the Kupiansk sector, driving back Russian forces, Zelenskyy declared<\/a> in a video recorded on the city\u2019s southwestern outskirts, well within range of Russian strike drones and artillery fire. Zelenskyy and General Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, also visited command posts<\/a> of units<\/a> fighting in the sector and the \u201cKupiansk\u201d Tactical Group<\/a> overseeing them.<\/p>\n The visit came as the well-respected Ukrainian analytical group DeepState, which runs a popular battlefield map informed by geolocated footage and soldiers at the front, reported<\/a> that Ukraine had retaken part of the city and several villages to its northeast.<\/p>\n Ukraine had liberated Kupiansk during its September 2022 counteroffensive in Kharkiv Oblast. However, beginning in late 2024, Russian forces slowly pushed onto the western bank of the Oskil River, north of Kupiansk. They then began infiltrating into the city last summer, including by using an underground pipe<\/a> to move troops and supplies into Radkivka, just north of Kupiansk. Russian forces pushed deeper in the fall.<\/p>\n In September, in response to the Russian advances, Syrskyi created a \u201csearch-strike group\u201d tasked with driving the Russians out of Kupiansk, the Ukrainian National Guard\u2019s 2nd \u201cKhartiia\u201d Corps explained<\/a>. The group comprises elements of the corps\u2019 13th \u201cKhartiia\u201d Brigade, the 475th \u201cCode 9.2\u201d Assault Regiment, the 92nd Assault Brigade, Ukrainian military intelligence\u2019s International Legion, and the 144th Mechanized Brigade. The corps said it planned and commanded the operation in cooperation with the \u201cKupiansk\u201d Tactical Group and under the supervision of Syrskyi and National Guard commander Oleksandr Pivnenko.<\/p>\n According to reports by DeepState<\/a> and 2nd Corps<\/a>, Ukrainian forces first retook the villages of Radkivka and Kindrashivka and established fire control over Holubivka, aiming to cut off Russian troops in Kupiansk. The Ukrainians then cleared Mirove (aka Moskovka) and northwestern Kupiansk, though some Russian troops remain in pockets in the central part of the city. The Ukrainians were facing forces from Russia\u2019s 68th Motor Rifle Division and 27th Motor Rifle Brigade, reportedly supported by an unmanned systems regiment and elite \u201cRubikon\u201d and \u201cSudnyi Den\u201d drone units.<\/p>\n On Telegram, Russian<\/a> bloggers<\/a> lambasted<\/a> the deceitful practice within the Russian military of reporting advances \u201con credit\u201d \u2014 that is, before they have actually been made. During a heavily scripted meeting<\/a> with President Vladimir Putin on November 20, Russian military leaders had prematurely boasted that their forces had completely captured Kupiansk. Putin subsequently decorated<\/a> the commander of Russia\u2019s \u201cZapad\u201d Group of Forces, which is responsible for the area, with a Gold Star as a \u201cHero of Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n Ukraine\u2019s apparent success in Kupiansk comes as its undermanned forces face a difficult situation elsewhere on the battlefield. In recent weeks, Russia has captured most of Pokrovsk, a small city in Donetsk Oblast in eastern Ukraine, while Ukrainian troops in nearby Myrnohrad are at growing risk of encirclement. Meanwhile, Russian forces have also taken most or all of the eastern town of Siversk and are bearing down on the southern town of Huliaipole.<\/p>\n Russia\u2019s gains remain slow and costly, and it still appears to have little chance of achieving an operationally significant breakthrough. Nevertheless, the Kremlin insists it will take the rest of Donetsk Oblast by force if Kyiv refuses to withdraw as part of a peace settlement. The Trump administration points to Russia\u2019s advances to argue that Ukraine would be better off submitting to Moscow\u2019s demand \u2014 something Zelenskyy has rejected.<\/p>\n To bolster its bargaining position, Kyiv hopes to convince both Moscow and Washington that the Ukrainian defense will continue to hold. \u201cToday, achieving results on the frontline is crucial so that Ukraine can achieve results in diplomacy,\u201d Zelenskyy acknowledged during his visit to Kupiansk.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/kupiansk-changes-2025-800-1024x350.png\")
Maps of the situation in Kupiansk on October 19 (left) and December 12 (right), respectively, according to the Ukrainian analytical project DeepState. <\/p>\n