UKRAINE, KHARKIV OBLAST, Dec 13 – The Ukrainian military  recaptured the village of Kopanka, Izium district, Kharkiv region, reported analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) on December 13, citing geolocation footage from December 11.

One of the main goals of the Russian full-scale war is to capture the remainder of occupied Luhansk and Donetsk Oblast; their operations on the Kupiansk-Svatove-Kreminna line are dedicated to that. From this section of the frontline, they also aim to push into Kharkiv Oblast and re-occupy Kupiansk and Kupiansk-Vuzlovyi, important logistics hubs for the region.

Kopanka is a small village in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, situated about 12 miles from the frontline and roughly 31 miles from the city of Kharkiv. Its strategic location near the frontline has made it a site of ongoing military operations

Kopanka village / Screenshot: DeepStateMap

On December 11, the official YouTube page of the Third Assault Brigade posted a video showing soldiers of their Second Mechanized Battalion “clearing” a settlement of Russian troops. During the operation, they captured a group of Russian fighters from the “Storm V” unit.

“During the inspection of every building in the village, the Ukrainian army found a group of Russian soldiers from the 1st Tank Army in one of the basements. Most of them are criminals or under investigation,” the military said.

The video concludes with a statement that Kopanka is currently under the control of the Ukrainian military. 

Gwara Media could not confirm this information independently by the time of publishing this article. 

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  • In the Kharkiv direction, the Russians have built up enough manpower and equipment to launch a second offensive from the north, said Oleksandr Danylenko, head of the communication for the “Gart” border guard brigade, to Ukrainian outlet Suspilne.