UKRAINE, KUPIANSK, Aug. 17 — Full-scale war damaged or destroyed all residential high-rise buildings, reported Andrii Kanashevysh, head of Kupiansk district military administration, during the Ukrainian state’s telethon. 

Kanashevysh said Kupiansk had 262 high-rise residential buildings. Out of them, 244 are damaged, and 18 are officially considered destroyed. All the destroyed residential buildings are located at the part of the city, located at the right bank of Oskil.  

Kupiansk is located in the eastern part of the Kharkiv region, an important logistics hub connecting Kharkiv, Donetsk oblast, and, before Russian occupation, Luhansk oblast. 

To evaluate the state of the buildings, Kanashevych said, authorities use video provided by Ukrainian soldiers fighting there because it’s impossible to physically get there because of the safety situation. 

As of Aug. 17, Kanashevych said that 777 people are in the Kupiansk community and 320 remain in the city itself. 

On Aug. 11, Russian forces reportedly advanced near Pischane village, located ~13 km (8 miles) southeast of Kupiansk. 

Viktor Trehubov, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian forces responsible for the Kharkiv region, said during a national telethon that Russian forces are attempting to advance along the left bank of the Oskil river toward Kupiansk-Vuzlovyi, a settlement south of Kupiansk. He also said that Russian forces are present in Kupiansk itself. 

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