KHARKIV OBLAST, Feb 27 — Kupiansk and Kupiansk-Vuzlovyi are the priority targets for the Russian troops in the Kupiansk direction, Illia Yevlash, spokesman for the Khortytsia operational-strategic group, said during a telethon.

According to him, the Russians probably consider it necessary to attack now with all available forces. The Ukrainian military is working on defense.

“Of course, we can cope with the number of Russian troops in this area, but we need more weapons. Weapons are above all now, in particular ammunition, 155 caliber, 105 caliber, and drones. Of course, we need much more of it because the enemy outnumbers us,” he said.

Yevlash emphasized that despite the advantages of the Russians, Ukrainian troops can fight back. In his opinion, only by joining Ukrainian efforts, it is possible to repel the Russian offensive in this direction.

As reported, in the Kupiansk direction, the Ukrainian military repelled two Russian attacks near Ivanivka and Tabaivka and another 20 attacks near Synkivka in the Kharkiv Oblast.

Russian pressure in the Kupiansk direction is quite powerful. By the end of 2023 and at the beginning of this year, the intensity of artillery usage by Russians and Ukrainians was 1-to-12. Now we have 1-to-6.6. This is a decrease in their advantage in numbers, but it is [still] significant,” the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyi, said on February 25 at the forum “Ukraine. Year 2024”. Zelenskyy noted that Ukraine needs to get to the point where the ratio at the front is 1-to-1.5 or 1-to-3 — as it was when Ukraine launched its previous counter-offensive. Then, the Ukrainian Armed Forces can push the Russian army back. The President said that under other conditions, Ukraine would either hold its ground or lose territory.

Read more