UKRAINE, KHARKIV OBLAST, Jul 19 — The distance from the front line to the border areas of the Kupiansk community, located near the Oskil River, is up to six miles. Currently, 173 children remain on the right bank of this river in the Kupiansk district, reported Andrii Besedin, head of the Kupiansk City Military Administration, on Ukrainian TV.

Oleh Syniehubov, Kharkiv Oblast Governor, said on 18 June that the Kupiansk direction is even more important to the Russian army now than the fighting in the north, where they launched a new ground offensive in May. He added that the Russian military continues to destroy civilian infrastructure and crossings of the Oskil River in the Kupiansk district to make life as difficult as possible for people living there. 

According to Besedin, the situation in the community is deteriorating, and the Russians are not giving up trying to launch new attacks. Therefore, evacuating is necessary, but some residents do not want to leave.

“The entire algorithm [of evacuation] has been worked out, and places for compact living in Kharkiv and other safer regions have been prepared in advance. So now we should not neglect this, [evacuate] and enable Ukrainian defenders to deter the enemy without any obstacles,” explained Andrii Besedin.

According to him, there are no military facilities on the territory of the Kupiansk community, so the Russian army is targeting residents and civilian infrastructure.

Oleh Syniehubov reported that on the night of July 18, Russian troops dropped a FAB-1500 bomb [an unguided bomb with a high-explosive warhead  — ed.] on Kupiansk, Kharkiv region. The attack damaged a house and a two-story building of an enterprise.

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  • Around 4 a.m., the Russian military attacked a residential area in the center of Chuhuiv, Kharkiv region, with two Iskander-M missiles, injuring nine people, including a 14-year-old boy, reported Oleh Syniehubov, Kharkiv Oblast Governor.