According to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) team, in the coming weeks, the Russian army may try to capture Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region again.
Kupyansk may become Russia's new goal in Ukraine
According to the US Institute for the Study of War, the occupiers have a grouping of troops in the area that appears to be less degraded than other Russian groups.
That is why analysts have concluded that the enemy will try to intensify the offensive in the Kupyansk direction (Kharkiv and Luhansk regions).
It is important to understand that Ukrainian officials have recently warned that the Russian army plans to capture Kupyansk and Borova (35 km west of Svatove) in the winter of 2024.
The capture of these towns could force Ukrainian forces from the eastern bank of the Oskil River in the Kharkiv region and create conditions for future Russian offensives on the Kupyansk-Svativ-Kreminna line. The pace of Russian operations in the Kupyansk direction and the apparent configuration of Russian forces in the occupied Luhansk and Kharkiv regions do not indicate an impending Russian offensive along the entire Kupyansk-Lyman frontline.
Can Russia launch an attack on entire Kharkiv region?
The ISW team notes that, to date, the Russian army has not been able to concentrate enough forces in the Belgorod region to launch large-scale offensives elsewhere in the north or northeast of the Kharkiv region.
The Ukrainian authorities have not publicly stated that the enemy has suddenly begun to build up forces in the Kupyansk sector.
Russian troops appear to be gradually rebuilding units that suffered significant losses during the Ukrainian counteroffensive in September 2022 and the failed Russian offensive in the winter-spring of 2023. The Russian command intends to use these relatively well rested and restored units to intensify local offensive operations, which began in October 2023.
