KHARKIV OBLAST, UKRAINE, May 2 — Over the past day, Ukrainian military repelled 14 attacks in the Kupiansk direction near Petropavlivka, Ivanivka, Kyslivka, Kotliarivka, Berestove, and Kopanka in the Kharkiv Oblast and Stelmakhivka in the Luhansk Oblast, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reports in the morning briefing.

Russians are not abandoning their goal of occupying Kupiansk, a city in the Kharkiv region, again. It is a logistics and railway hub between Kharkiv and Luhansk oblasts, and seizing it would allow the Russian army to boost its supply efforts. 

On April 18, the General Staff reported that Russians renewed localized assaults on the Kupiansk axis after rotating units to compensate for significant losses. On April 24, Serhii Melnyk, head of the Kharkiv military garrison, said that the Russian troops resumed their attempts at an offensive on the Kupiansk axis but weren’t successful.

According to the General Staff’s data, in the Lyman direction, Ukrainian troops repelled 14 Russian attacks near Novoiehorivka, Hrekivka, Nevske, and Serebrianske Forestry in the Luhansk region and Terny in the Donetsk region.

As General Staff informed, in the Slobozhanskyi direction, in the border areas, the Russian military conducts intense sabotage activities to prevent the deployment of Ukrainian troops to more dangerous directions and increases the density of minefields along the state border in the Belgorod Oblast.

Oleh Syniehubov, head of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration, said during a telethon that the Russian army is building up troops in the north of the Kharkiv region, but the pace of manpower and equipment buildup hasn’t changed for ten months. 

In total, according to the General Staff, there were 121 combat clashes along the frontline over the past day. Russia launched five missile strikes and 63 airstrikes, and fired 72 times from multiple launch rocket systems at the positions of Ukrainian troops and various towns and villages.

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  • The Institute for the Study of War research group released a report saying the Kremlin is conducting a “concrete air and information operation” to destroy Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, and cause panic among Ukrainians, urging them to flee ahead of “possible Russian offensive.” 

He also added that the Russian military resumed assault operations at the Kupiansk and Lyman directions, but Ukrainian defenders are holding back their attempts to advance.

In total, according to the General Staff, there were 121 combat clashes along the frontline over the past day. Russia launched five missile strikes and 63 airstrikes, and fired 72 times from multiple launch rocket systems at the positions of Ukrainian troops and various towns and villages.