The Russian Tank Army is about to attack Kupyansk, but in front of the obstacle - the Oskil River - Forbes

According to analysts, the extent of the extension of Russian troops indicates that Kupyansk seizure should be a high -national task for the Russian military command. Kupyansk, a city with a pre -war population of 26,000 people, located 40 km from the Russian border and adjacent to the Oskil River. The city was the main purpose for both sides in a three -year full -scale war. Forbes writes about it. Russian troops seized the city in the first hours in February 2022.

The Armed Forces, which counterattacked, liberated the city in seven months. Now Kupyansk is appealed again. The Russians seek to clamp the belt of Ukrainian fortress cities that stretch along the Kharkiv and Donetsk region. There are only three hundred soldiers in each occupying a garrison on the western bank of the Oskil River north of Kupyansk. Much larger Ukrainian forces with several brigades of 2000 people protect Kupyansk himself.

Whether Kupyansk will fall into a large-scale war and when this happens, may depend on whether the Russian 1st Guards Army-three divisions and five brigades with tens of thousands of soldiers-to fix on the western bank of the Oskil River. "To capture Kupyansk, it will also be necessary to cross the Oskil River south of the city," the Ukrainian Center for Defense Strategies explained. The Russians make heroic efforts and succeed.

They crossed the river and seized the village of Novomlinsk, north of Kupyansk, a few weeks ago. Their next step is obvious. Having already transferred part of the forces through Oskil to the village of two -year, between Novomlinsk and Kupyansk, the Russians will try to expand this bridgehead to build a defense crossing across the river, replacing the pre -war bridge, which was practically destroyed in three years of continuous fighting.

It is worth expecting fierce fighting collisions, journalists predict. Usually, when Russian engineers are erecting pontoon bridges, Ukrainian Air Force bomb floating spans. Bridges' efforts can turn into a racing: whether Russians can build bridges faster than Ukrainians will destroy them. The rates are high.

"Given the considerable concentration of forces near Kupyansk, including units of the 1st tank army, our team estimates that Russian troops are preparing for a direct offensive on the city," summed up the analytical group Fronetelligence insight. -The scale of this extension indicates that Kupyansk is a high -national task for the Russian military command. Recall that representatives of the Armed Forces stated that they use laser weapons on the front line, experts expressed their opinion.