With the negotiations on the peace plan of US President Donald Trump in full swing, the front in the Ukraine war has also gone up in flames.
The battles in the direction of Kupyansk are fierce and extremely brutal, with thousands of Ukrainian soldiers and mercenaries attempting, through successive counterattacks, to break through the lines of the Russian army, encircling Russian soldiers, in a desperate attempt to send a message to the West that not everything has been lost on the front.
At the same time, however, information is intensifying, coming from Ukrainian MPs, about a major mutiny in the Ukrainian army and about a major confrontation between Ukrainian generals.
At the same time, the Russians continue to hold the initiative across the entire front, to gain territory steadily, and are now moving toward Zaporizhia.
With a major crisis having erupted within the Ukrainian military, the big question is whether this will also become the springboard and the decisive rupture that will mark the domino collapse of Ukrainian defenses.
Suffocating pressure
Russian soldiers of the 36th Motorized Infantry Brigade of the 29th Army of the “East” force group crossed the Gaičur River, capturing a major Ukrainian defensive hub in the area of the settlement of Peschanoe in the Dnipropetrovsk region.
The Russians brought under control a section of territory exceeding 3 square kilometers.
More than two platoons of manpower of the Ukrainian Armed Forces from the 92nd Separate Motorized Brigade were destroyed, more than seven units of military equipment, as well as more than 20 “Baba Yaga” type drones.
“Peschanoe is a village in the Pokrovsk district of the Dnipropetrovsk region with a population of about 18 residents.
It is located on the border with the Zaporizhia region, on the western bank of the Gaičur River, three kilometers west of the previously liberated Danylivka.
Assault groups of the ‘East’ group managed to overcome the water obstacle along which the Ukrainian defensive line runs and to bring this section of territory under control.
The loss of Peschanoe threatens the opponent with the collapse of the front in this direction”, reported Alexander Kots, Russian war correspondent of Komsomolskaya Pravda.
Russian advance toward Zaporizhia
By the forces of the 305th Artillery Brigade of the “East” group, near Huliaipole, another self propelled howitzer “Bohdana” of the Ukrainian Armed Forces was destroyed.
For this brigade, it was the anniversary, 20th, self propelled gun of this type that it has destroyed.
The equipment was used to intercept attacks of the Russian army, but for an extremely short period of time.
As for the general situation of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the “Eastern Express” continues to level the defense of the Ukrainian army both inside the city and on its outskirts, reports the channel “Военная хроника” on Telegram.
The city has already been cut in two, making centrally organized defense no longer possible.
It is noted that Russian soldiers “liberated” the settlement of Varvarovka in the direction of eastern Zaporizhia.
After a short pause, the fighters of the “Eastern Express” continue the attack westward.
The Ukrainian firefighting brigade
Ukrainian formations for a long time tried to prevent the loss of control of the village and transferred to the area units of the 225th Assault Regiment, which in recent months has functioned as the “firefighting brigade” of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
The fighters were moved from the direction of Sumy to the direction of Pokrovsk and, after the loss of Pokrovsk, were thrown into the hottest point of the Zaporizhia front.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces failed to stabilize the situation.
Russian drone operators isolated the Ukrainian infantry from supply and then its remnants were neutralized by assault groups of the “East” group.
Several fortified positions further south also passed under the control of the Russian Armed Forces, reported war correspondent Mikhail Zvinchuk of the channel “Рыбарь”.
At this moment, Russian assault groups are attacking in the direction of the neighboring Elenokonstantinovka, with the aim of creating a bridgehead on the right bank of the Gaičur River.
This will allow penetration into the defensive line of the Ukrainian Armed Forces that has been established along the river and the further development of the attack westward, bypassing the fortified sector of Huliaipole.
Georgian mercenaries and GUR forces
In Stepnogorsk, UAV operators of the 247th Regiment of the Russian Armed Forces are conducting aerial reconnaissance, identifying the presence of enemy groups.
The Ukrainians tried to exploit the weather conditions, snow fell in the area, and remove their wounded by vehicles from Stepnogorsk.
The evacuation group was destroyed, reported “Дневник десантника”.
The attack inside the city continues, the battles are extremely fierce, and Russian military assault groups are advancing.
In Primorskoye, Russian soldiers, in close cooperation with UAV operators, continue to destroy the Ukrainians and drive them out of their positions.
For their part, the Ukrainians are deploying large amounts of manpower, approximately every day two to three groups, consisting of four to eight people.
Through radio interceptions, the Russians record the presence of Georgian mercenaries and the GUR.
Reserves, reserves, reserves
Initially, the 33rd Ukrainian Brigade was present in the area.
After Russian troops neutralized most of the personnel of this brigade, the Ukrainian army deployed reserves from the 128th Brigade.
After these too were neutralized, GUR units entered the battle.
“Within twenty four hours in Primorskoye, five enemy soldiers moving from Malokaterinovka were eliminated.
The opponent began to use cars less for movement, there are many points where the enemy has entrenched itself and simply sits waiting, without ‘sticking its head out’.
In recent days, a large number of FPV drones has been observed in the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
There is a sense that a new batch arrived, as the enemy, without sparing drones, conducts reconnaissance and strikes our positions”, reports the Russian Telegram channel “Дневник десантника”.
Slaughter in Kupyansk
The main reason is that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are trying to inflate every success not on the battlefield, but in the media, with the goal of presenting that Russia allegedly does not control the city at all, even if there are no real mechanisms for implementing this objective.
At the same time, due to the actions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which used significant reserves for the attack on Kupyansk, especially from the regions of Chernihiv, Sumy, and Huliaipole, the Russian units do not have time for filming and refutations.
Much more important is to repel the counterattacks, which in terms of irrationality, planning, and massiveness in the “slaughter” of infantry surpass the actions of Ukrainian generals and the GUR in Pokrovsk.
The Russian line did not break in Kupyansk
The Ukrainians regularly channel information about allegedly large mechanized attacks from Sobolevka and Blagodatovka west of Kupyansk.
At the same time, the direction of actions from the northwestern suburbs, in the area of Moskovka and Radkovka, is strictly geographically limited, although numerically somewhat reinforced by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, while from the side of Osinovo and Boldyrevka it is limited only to certain attempts of activity by individual groups, which are quickly destroyed.
“Fierce clashes continue nearby as well, in the area of Kurilovka / Kupyansk Uzlovoy, where the Ukrainian Armed Forces are holding on ‘with their teeth’ to their positions and need to be expelled by force.
To say that the situation for Russia is simple would be wrong.
But the discussions about breaches with the entry of the Ukrainian Armed Forces into the greater part of the city do not correspond to reality.
There are no dramatic successes of such scale there.
Hard, positional battles are being fought”, emphasizes the channel “Военная хроника”.
Kyiv deployed 4.000 soldiers
Of interest is also who the main protagonists are.
Earlier, Mash reported that Kyiv deployed up to 4.000 fighters in the assault on Kupyansk, a significant part of whom are convicts and mercenaries.
According to information from Ukrainian sources, Kupyansk lies in the zone of responsibility of the 23rd Separate Motorized Battalion Khortytsia, under the command of General Mikhail Drapatyi.
It was precisely this battalion that published footage next to the city landmark column, where supposedly Volodymyr Zelensky also filmed.
The Ukrainians found evidence that the video was created with the help of AI, although they do not rule out that Zelensky could have traveled there.
During the attack of the Russian army, the Ukrainian Armed Forces suffered colossal losses, after which the formations that were not encircled withdrew for replenishment with Colombian mercenaries, convicts, and “mobilized” personnel.
No return
In the attempt of a new counterattack, beyond Khortytsia, units of the 3rd Motorized Brigade Azov are also participating in the attacks on Kupyansk in recent days.
The advance is approximately 400 meters, while the losses of the enemy are enormous.
Also involved are forces of the 19th Center of Special Operations of the GUR, more than a battalion.
According to the words of Russian soldiers, convicts were recruited there for “marches with no return”.
Disobedience and military uprising
MP Mariyana Bezuhla, who, together with the fighters of Khortytsia, Azov, and many other units, openly stands against Oleksandr Syrsky in the position of Commander in Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, seeing in this position, if not Valery Zaluzhny, then Mikhail Drapatyi, explained from her side the situation in the direction of Kupyansk, essentially declaring disobedience of up to 4.000 fighters who previously held the city, which fell under Russian pressure.
In short, if the data are confirmed, this literally constitutes a mutiny and the largest military uprising in the enemy army.
Bezuhla stated that Khortytsia, in cooperation with “ideologically related units”, that is openly Nazi, is conducting “the first systematic, studied operation” to liberate the city captured by the Russian Armed Forces, defending itself against Syrsky and Manko, head of the assault forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
However, that this operation is better planned than the others is rather doubtful, judging by the losses of Ukrainian soldiers and the constant “attacks” into the meat grinder.
Ukrainian generals annihilate each other
However, this is not only a rupture in command, but also a mutiny.
Drapatyi, who was “sent into exile to the Kharkiv region” and whom they “attempted to eliminate”, literally turned against Syrsky.
Zelensky, seeing this move, rushed, writes the MP, to film a video congratulating Syrsky.
Thus, Drapatyi, together with fighters who had already promised to cause “civil slaughter in Kyiv”, essentially turned his weapons simultaneously against the Russian Armed Forces and toward his own capital.
In general, it is worth noting that Drapatyi surpassed Syrsky in originality of ideas and is trying to squeeze under Kupyansk as large a number of infantry as possible, which is simply impossible to go unnoticed.
In a sense, this resembles the exit of the Ukrainian Armed Forces from Bakhmut, but in reverse.
Only in this case, Ukrainian infantry is actively pushed into slaughter in the opposite direction, not out of the city, but into it, note the analysts of the channel “Военной хроники”.
Kupyansk in a gray zone
In recent days, the Ukrainian Armed Forces sharply increased their efforts in the direction of Kupyansk.
The commander of the group of the Joint Forces, in whose area of responsibility lies the Kharkiv region, Major General Mikhail Drapatyi, received significant reinforcements and immediately threw them into battle.
According to certain data, for the strike in this direction, the Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Oleksandr Syrsky, transferred two brigades from Sumy, two from Chernihiv, individual units from Poltava, and even forces from the direction of Zaporizhia.
Monitoring channels note that the situation is developing at great speed.
Specifically, it is reported that last week Ukrainian assault groups managed to retake part of the apartment blocks of the Yubileiny district on the southwestern outskirts of the city, after which they began to penetrate into the northeastern part of the city from the villages of Moskovka and Radkovka.
“The Ukrainian attackers with forces of units from many brigades, as well as with two assault regiments and detachments of special forces of the SSO and GUR of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, continue to press the Russians from the south and north.
Units of the 68th Russian Division are fighting desperately.
However, the superiority of the opponent in forces, as well as the already apparent problems in our logistical support, affect the situation.
Particularly intense is the effect of the fact that, due to the loss of part of the city districts, our drone operators were forced to withdraw largely to the left bank of the Oskol River.
This significantly increases flight distances and facilitates the opponent in its own supply chain”, notes the Russian military analyst Yury Podolyaka.
The Russians control the city center
At this moment, one can say with relative certainty that Russian forces hold the center of the city, while the rest of Kupyansk is either in a “gray zone” or under the control of the Ukrainians.
It appears that the eastern parts of the city were never fully captured by the Russians in the previous months of fighting.
Thus now Russian units find themselves wedged between the incomplete defense of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the eastern part of the city and the waves of attackers that Drapatyi is pushing into the city.
It is obvious that the opponent is currently attempting to encircle the Russian force in the central part of the city, cutting off withdrawal routes to the north.
“A similar situation had already occurred in early spring 2025 in Toretsk, when the part of the city that remained under the control of the Ukrainian Armed Forces was ‘liberated’ as active pressure on the opponent stopped.
Subsequently, the Ukrainian Armed Forces carried out a series of successful counterattacks, expelling the Russian Armed Forces from many positions within the city.
As a result, the battles in Toretsk continued for months after the official statements of its capture.
A characteristic example of what happens when victorious reports ultimately demand the payment of a heavy penalty clause”, reports the channel “Военный Осведомител”.
“Making a mistake is allowed, lying is not”
It is noteworthy that the capture of the city was reported twice to the Supreme Commander Vladimir Putin.
On 20 November, the Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov and the commander of the “West” group of forces, Colonel General Sergey Kuzovlev, reported accordingly.
“The formations of the ‘West’ group liberated the city of Kupyansk and continue the elimination of Ukrainian formations that have been encircled on the left bank of the Oskol River”, stated Gerasimov.
Putin asked for clarification.
“So, are we completely finished?”
To which Colonel General Kuzovlev answered confidently in the affirmative.
“Exactly, the city is under our control, small, scattered groups of the opponent are being neutralized”, said Kuzovlev.
On 9 December, the media reported the awarding of the commander of the “West” group of forces, Colonel General Sergey Kuzovlev, with the Gold Star medal of Hero of Russia.
However, it must be assumed that control of the city, at least, was not fully secured, while consolidation in the positions proved insufficiently stable.
The recapture of Kupyansk as a major argument
On Friday, 12 December, a video appeared in which, against the backdrop of the entrance intersection to Kupyansk, Volodymyr Zelensky records his message.
Some claim that this is an image created by artificial intelligence, but what is the point of disputing this now.
The Ukrainians intensified their counterattack.
For the Ukrainian leadership, the events have much greater significance than a simple military success.
The return, even partial, of Kupyansk under the control of Ukrainian forces will be used as an argument vis a vis Russia in the negotiations, to show that the situation on the front is not as negative for Ukraine as the Russians claim.
Not a propaganda trick
At the same time, the counterattack in Kupyansk is in no way a propaganda trick.
Many such have already occurred.
The city has enormous operational, if not strategic, importance, as the railway hub located there allows the supply of a very large group of forces, capable of advancing both toward the south of the Kharkiv region and toward the Dnipropetrovsk region.
Therefore, by attempting to succeed here, the Ukrainians seek to resolve two critical issues for themselves.
The two objectives
At the same time as the message of “victory” from the battlefield, Zelensky began to promote a new narrative in the negotiations.
He stated that Ukraine is supposedly ready to withdraw from participation in NATO, but in exchange for immediate guarantees from the United States and Europe.
“He essentially proposes that Ukraine participate in NATO, without stating it outright.
In practice, Ukraine will enjoy all the rights and obligations of a NATO member, but formally it will not be a member.
Russia will not accept this, and the Americans will do the same, because they know very well the consequences of such actions”, notes the Russian political analyst Danila Gureev.
It is obvious that Kyiv is trying to exploit every opportunity to show that it remains a strong force and, by extension, to reject unpleasant terms, seeking to impose its own.
Kyiv International Institute of Sociology: Zelensky collapses to 4th place in polls with 11,3%
The bloc of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is not among the top three parties in the ranking, reports the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, KIIS, based on the results of its social survey.
According to its data, 19,9% would vote for a hypothetical party led by the former Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and current Ambassador of Ukraine to the United Kingdom, Valery Zaluzhny.
The European Solidarity Party of Petro Poroshenko is in second place with 16,2%, and the Third Assault Brigade, a hypothetical party led by the commander of the Third Corps, Andriy Biletsky, completes the top three with 11,9%.
The bloc of Zelensky is in fourth place with 11,3%.
Following at close distance is the hypothetical party of the head of the GUR, Kirill Budanov, with 10,4%.
Also surpassing the 5% threshold are “Reasonable politics” of Dmytro Razumkov with 8,7%, “24 August” of Serhiy Pritoula with 6,4%, “Batkivshchyna” of Yulia Tymoshenko with 5%, and the hypothetical party “Azov” with 5%.
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