UKRAINE, KUPIANSK, Jan 9 — Over 1,333 people remain in Kupiansk as of January 8, Kharkiv Oblast, said Oleh Syniehubov, the governor of the region, on Ukrainian state TV. 

Kupiansk is an important logistics, railway hub to the southeast of Kharkiv, and seizing it again is one of Russia’s goals on the Kupiansk-Svatove-Kreminna axis. Currently, the frontline is about two kilometers away from the Kupiansk, and Russians constantly shell the city and its district. 

Syniehubov said that 133 people are living on the left bank of the Oskil river, and 1,000 remain on the right bank. 

Open-source monitoring organizations say that Russia recently occupied Lozova (southeast of Kupiansk) and advanced in Dvorichna (northeast of Kupiansk). The Ukrainian military denies this information. Gwara Media cannot independently confirm the situation in these settlements. 

At the end of December, governor Syniehubov said that if the Dvorichna section of the frontline were to become a priority for Russian troops, they would engage “large numbers of infantry and armored military vehicles.” Currently, they stick to sending out small infantry groups with limited equipment to investigate the area and call for more forces if they see a potential for success, Syniehubov said. 

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