{"id":699016,"date":"2026-01-16T03:17:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T03:17:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/699016\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T03:17:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T03:17:17","slug":"ukraine-forces-killed-27-russians-for-every-soldier-lost-at-kupiansk-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/699016\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine forces killed 27 Russians for every soldier lost at Kupiansk"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ukrainian forces killed 27 times as many Russians as they lost when they fought to regain the key city of Kupiansk, \u00adaccording to an intelligence assessment provided to the British military.<\/p>\n

British officials were informed about the \u201ckill ratio\u201d in a Ukrainian briefing last week on Kyiv\u2019s ability to win back territory despite Moscow\u2019s \u201cmeat grinder\u201d tactics of overwhelming their enemy by sheer force of numbers.<\/p>\n

A defence source who provided the figure to The Times pointed out that in the battle for Kupiansk before Christmas as many as 200 Russian<\/a> troops had been surrounded by advancing Ukrainians. It is unclear how many Russians were killed overall, although the source said that Russian casualties in the area throughout last year were estimated to be in the thousands.<\/p>\n

Some of Kyiv\u2019s best-trained soldiers, including those from the 13th \u201cKhartia\u201d brigade, have been deployed to Kupiansk to relieve the pressure on the city, which seemed on the brink of being overrun a few weeks ago.<\/p>\n

\"Aerial<\/p>\n

The frontline town of Kupiansk in December 2025<\/p>\n

116TH SEPARATE MECHANIZED BRIGADE OF THE UKRAINIAN GROUND FORCES\/AFP\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

In a dramatic reversal, Ukrainian forces said they had almost pushed Russian forces back this week, and \u00adsoldiers raised the Ukrainian flag on the remains of Kupiansk\u2019s council building on Monday.<\/p>\n

According to the Financial Times, Ukrainian units moved into the area over the autumn without drawing \u00adRussian attention, before making their way through the forests surrounding Kupiansk and into the city.<\/p>\n

Viktor Trehubov, spokesman for the military group responsible for the Kharkiv region, said that since the start of this month Ukrainian troops had been clearing Kupiansk of Russians.<\/p>\n

Ukrainian forces also carried out an air attack on a hospital building in \u00adKupiansk where Russian soldiers were hiding.<\/p>\n

Diplomatic sources told The Times they saw no sign that President Putin was willing to compromise on his maximalist demands, which include control of four regions in eastern and southern Ukraine, as the price for ending the war. However, they pointed out that \u00addespite all the soldiers Russia was throwing \u00adinto the fight, Putin was not able to \u00adadvance in any significant way, which had kept up Ukrainian morale.<\/p>\n

Speaking to foreign ambassadors in Moscow on Thursday, Putin said Russia wanted a long-lasting peace in Ukraine<\/a>. \u201cNot everywhere, including in Kyiv and the capitals that support it, are [people] ready for that, but we hope the realisation of the necessity will come sooner or later,\u201d he said. \u201cWhile there is not [such a realisation] Russia will \u00adcontinue to strive to achieve the aims it has set \u00aditself.\u201d In an often-repeated claim, \u00adPutin added that the crisis in Ukraine was the result of Russia\u2019s interests being ignored for many years, and \u201can intentional course of creating threats to our security, expanding the Nato bloc \u00adtowards our borders\u201d.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Russian foreign ministry said that if Britain intercepted Russian oil tankers that London considers sanctions-busters, Moscow would consider it a violation of international maritime law and a direct \u00adattempt to damage Russia\u2019s interests. The ministry also said the possible use of British missiles by Ukraine for strikes inside Russia \u201cbrought closer the moment\u201d when Moscow would declare the UK a direct participant in the conflict.<\/p>\n

Ukrainian officials have said in recent weeks that British Storm Shadow missiles were used to strike a chemical plant in Russia\u2019s Bryansk region that made gunpowder and explosives, and an oil refinery in the Rostov region.<\/p>\n

\u2022 UK could use oil from shadow fleet to fund Ukraine war effort<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

Asked whether he agreed with \u00adPresident Trump that \u00adPresident Zelensky was the reason why no peace deal had been signed, Dmitry Peskov, Putin\u2019s spokesman, said: \u201cI agree, that is indeed the case. President Putin and the \u00adRussian side remain open [to talks]. The Russian position is well known. It is well known to the American negotiators, to President Trump, and to the leadership of the Kyiv regime.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peskov said Kyiv was running out of time. \u201cThe situation is deteriorating day by day for the Kyiv regime,\u201d he told reporters, adding that Ukraine\u2019s \u00ad\u201ccorridor for decision-making\u201d was \u201cnarrowing\u201d. The time had come \u201cfor Zelensky to take responsibility and make the appropriate decision\u201d, he added, apparently meaning agreement to Russia\u2019s demands.<\/p>\n

Peskov said he was unable to confirm reports that Russia was ready to accept troops from China or the \u201cGlobal South\u201d as peacekeepers in Ukraine after a peace deal. Putin has said any troops from Nato countries deployed there would be considered \u201clegitimate targets for defeat\u201d by Russian forces.<\/p>\n

Peskov added that dialogue between Russia and the United States over the conflict should continue, and he hoped Steve Witkoff, Trump\u2019s envoy, and \u00adJared Kushner, Trump\u2019s son-in-law, would travel to Moscow for new talks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ukrainian forces killed 27 times as many Russians as they lost when they fought to regain the key…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":698646,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[12,26],"class_list":{"0":"post-699016","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-news","9":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115902614542000687","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=699016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/698646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=699016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=699016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=699016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}