Ukraine Tricks Russians At Kupiansk, Trapping "Advance' In A Cauldron

For the third time - in the last month! -  at Dobropillia, Sumy and now most recently at Kupiansk, Ukrainian forces have trapped Russian units which thought they were advancing. The Ukrainian strategy has been to let the Russians gain limited ground, as Kremlin commanders believe they are pushing the 'undermanned' Ukrainians back. 

In reality, the Ukrainians have encouraged the Russians, then closed a trap around them, creating an encirclement or 'cauldron,' which the Ukrainians can then decimate at their leisure using drones, artillery, armor and infantry. The headlines about Ukrainian positions at Kupiansk have been threatening in recent weeks so it is amusing to then learn that such narratives were part of the trap into which the Russians have fallen. JL

Decimus reports in Daily Kos:

With Russia’s forces committed to the assault on Kupiansk, Ukraine redeployed the battle-hardened 3rd Assault Brigade (the “Azov battalion”) to join the 10th Corps and the 429th to dismantle the Russian salient. The 3rd Assault and the 10th Corps launched their drive at the top of the Russian salient, flanking and pushing east to pin the Russians against the Oskil River, the obstacle they spent a year crossing with great difficulty. This drive traps any Russians who made it into Kupiansk. Just like in Sumy and Dobropillyia, the Russians have “advanced”  into a salient which the Ukrainians have then cut apart and crushed with huge losses to the Russian occupanty.

Attribution; Time line of the development of the Russian salient at Kupiansk in Kharkiv oblast. Credit: gwaramedia.com

DESPERATE is as desperate does. That is where the once vaunted Russian war machine is today on the battlefields of Eastern Ukraine ... desperately taking ill-conceived gambles on the battlefield for what appears to be pure propagandistic ends … “see we’re advancing. We’re winning”. And once again just like in Sumy and Dobropillyia the Russians have “advanced” themselves straight into a salient which the Ukrainians have then deftly and skillfully cut apart and crushed with huge losses to the Russian occupanty.

And once again amidst the rising alarm and hand waving in the media about … “ OMG, the Russians have entered the center of Kupiansk and are in control of the city”, the Ukrainians remain relatively calm and watchful as the Russians make their moves.  It is not as if the Ukrainians have not been aware of what the Russians aspire to.  The Russians recently said it out loud themselves:

Russia publicly acknowledges intent to advance into Kharkiv Oblast should it seize Kupiansk

Moscow has publicly acknowledged that seizing Kupiansk would serve as the launching point for simultaneous advances toward Chuhuiv, Izium, and Vovchansk

The Russian military outlined an ambitious multi-directional advance strategy contingent on securing Kupiansk. According to the MoD statement, Russian forces “intend to leverage the seizure of Kupiansk to attack further into eastern Kharkiv Oblast in several directions simultaneously, including toward Chuhuiv (west of Kupiansk) and Izium (southwest of Kupiansk), and toward Vovchansk (northwest of Kupiansk).”

The Russian defense ministry further detailed plans for its Western and Northern force groupings to “unite the Vovchansk and Kupiansk efforts, which would effectively establish a ‘buffer zone’ near the international border in northern Kharkiv Oblast.”

euromaidanpress.com/...

Long before the Russians made the above quoted aspirational aims known, it would appear the Ukrainians had figured out as much. And they have been slowly “training up” the Russians to once again funnel themselves into a salient which could then be destroyed.

Take a good look at the above caption map of the progression of the Russians on the Kupiansk line since December 31, 2024 till this week.  Over the past year or so the Ukrainians have watched the Russians go through all sorts of contortions to cross over from the East bank to the West Bank of the Oskil river.  It has been a slow and difficult slog for the Russians as they somehow have been unable to mount a major concerted crossing of the river.  So they have resorted to small squad infiltration, sometimes even rafting or crossing by rope lines. The Ukrainians kept watch, contesting here and there as the Russians made their push across the river bit by bit. Then came the Russian caper known to the Ukrainians as “Operation Truba” (Pipe) in which Russian forces reached the western outskirts of Kupiansk via Soviet era gas pipelines under the Oskil:

'Suicides and suffocation' — Russia sends troops into gas pipelines to bypass Ukrainian defenses

Russian units attempting to move across the Oskil River used a gas pipeline, monitoring group DeepState reported on Sept. 12, with soldiers using specially designed wheeled benches and electric scooters to maneuver.

They reportedly reached the nearby village of Radkivka "without serious losses" before moving to a forest and dispersing into Kupiansk.

kyivindependent.com/...

Kupiansk, for all the hair-on-fire reportage, is not a surprise “Dobropillyia” style advance by the Russians into Ukrainian defensive lines. Whilst the situation in the city is tense amid heavy fighting, complicated by the presence of about 1,000 civilians(mostly “zhduny” or “waiters”) who refused to evacuate, the Ukrainian 10th Corps and the 429th "ACHILLES" Separate UAV Regiment(one of Ukraine’s most accomplished drone formations) have things under control.  The Russian SRGs(Sabotage and Reconnaissance Groups) who were successful in penetrating into the city’s outskirts have resorted to the dastardly tactic of dressing up as those “civilians”:

 Russian forces unable to take control of any Kupiansk districts — Ukraine’s 429th unit

The occupying Russian army does not control any of the districts of Kupiansk, but the presence of Russian reconnaissance and sabotage groups in the city is very high

“Intense combat is currently ongoing on the northern and northwestern outskirts of Kupiansk and within the city itself. At the moment, the Russians have not seized control of any districts in Kupiansk. However, the presence of Russian reconnaissance and sabotage groups is quite high. Measures are underway to block Russian actions on the northern and northwestern outskirts to prevent their groups from infiltrating the city. Efforts are also ongoing to counter those Russian groups disguising themselves in civilian or Ukrainian military uniforms. In this way, the occupiers are attempting to penetrate deeper into the city,” Fedorenko said.

global.espreso.tv/...

With Russia’s forces now fully committed to the assault on Kupiansk, General Syrskyi has redeployed the famous and battle-hardened 3rd Assault Brigade (the original “Azov battalion” and the core of the Ukrainian 3rd Army Corps) to join the 10th Corps and the 429th "ACHILLES" to bring the hammer down and start dismantling the Russian salient at Kupiansk:

Reserves have arrived near Kupiansk & struck the flank of the russian Armed Forces. Those who entered Kupiansk are now under threat of encirclement. Syrskyi redeployed the 3rd Assault Brigade to Kupiansk, while Gerasimov sent Russia’s most elite FPV unit, Rubikon, there.

@babayagafella.bsky.social

The highly regarded 3rd Assault Brigade is to reinforce the area, neutralizing Russian infiltration attempts and conducting counter-sabotage operations.

 

What is not said in the official announcement, however, is that the 3rd Assault Brigade and the 10th Corps have launched their drive from the West, at the very top of the Russian salient,  flanking and pushing East ward into the quadrant formed by the towns of Kindrashivka, Radkivka, Holubivka and Kalynove to eventually pin the backs of the Russians against the Oskil river …  the very same obstacle they spent a year crossing … with such great difficulty.  Further more, this drive wiil trap any Russians who made it into Kupiansk proper.  You can come in but you cannot leave. The great Carthaginian general Hannibal Barca would, without a doubt, smile approvingly when the Ukrainians pull this off … just as he and his underdog army did so resoundingly against the numerically superior Roman army at the Battle of Lake Trasimene on June 21,  217 BCE.

The Russians regularly talk about wanting to take Ukrainian units under envelopment, encirclement, cauldron, kettle, etc., etc.  The Ukrainians somehow always manage to slip the noose with their now well-practiced and patented fighting retrogrades onto a more advantageous defensive position. And now they are turning the tables on the Russians. They’re doing it in Sumy and Dobropilliya.

UKRAINE is once again to school the Russians on how to conduct a proper military tactical envelopment, this time at Kupiansk.