Ukraine’s Top General Says Russian Army Still Attacking Despite Heavy Losses

Oleksandr Syrsky, the commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), on Wednesday said that Russia has concentrated 710,000 troops inside Ukrainian territory for its ongoing winter offensive.

Russian attacks continue in the northeastern and eastern sectors, despite heavy losses, with AFU units along the more than 1,000-km (621-mile) front holding their positions, Syrsky said on Telegram.

Syrsky’s remarks followed Tuesday’s video conference of senior Ukrainian officials with allies at the 33rd Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting, known as the “Ramstein” group, which coordinates foreign military aid to Ukraine.

In a briefing to allies, Syrsky described the current fighting as “difficult.”

“To conduct a strategic offensive operation, the enemy has increased the grouping of troops in Ukraine to about 710,000 people. Despite significant losses, the Russian army continues to attempt offensive actions, although it has not achieved significant operational successes,” he said. Syrsky’s report, per his account, cited recent counterattacks liberating territory taken by Russian forces and claimed Ukrainian combat elements recently had “pushed back the occupiers from the city Kupyansk and taken control of almost 90 percent of the city’s territory.”

Contested accounts over Kupyansk

On Nov. 20, Russian President Vladimir Putin received a formal report on national television from Col. Gen. Sergey Kuzovlev, commander of Russia’s Group of Forces West, that Russian troops had secured full control of Kupyansk in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region. On Dec. 9, in another televised military event, Putin awarded Kuzovlev Russia’s highest bravery honor, the Hero of Russia medal, for leading his troops to “victory.” On Dec. 12, Ukrainian President Zelensky posted a video from Kupyansk, congratulating AFU forces for regaining control of most of the city, tacitly accusing the Kremlin of spreading false information.

Other Topics of Interest

You Realize How Valuable Life Is When Death Feels Possible Every Day

In wartime Lviv, a punk and hardcore concert becomes both a space for solidarity and a fundraiser for Ukraine’s military. Through the voices of musicians and organizers – some performing, others serving on the front line – young Ukrainians do their best to cope with daily life in wartime, even as Russian attacks remain a constant threat.

Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov on Wednesday doubled down on Kremlin claims that its forces had total control of Kupyansk, saying in comments televised nationally in Russia: “The Group of Forces West has occupied the strategically important city of Kupyansk, which the enemy is unsuccessfully trying to return to its control.”

Fresh battle reports from units fighting in the Kupyansk sector, tracked by Kyiv Post, confirm recent successful Ukrainian counterattacks and the transfer of most of the city’s central districts from Russian to Ukrainian control, but combat is still in progress.

Battle video in Kupyansk, published by the AFU’s 429th Unmanned Systems Forces (USF) Regiment “Achilles” on Wednesday, showed first-person view (FPV) drones and bomber drones attacking soldiers identified as Russian service personnel, as they attempted to cross open fields during daylight.

The footage documented “intense attacks” and “heavy enemy losses” in a rural region near Kupyansk city, a regimental statement said.

“The situation is characterized by high intensity of combat operations. The enemy continues to use the tactics of small assault groups under the cover of artillery and armored vehicles,” it added.

“Operators of the 429th separate regiment ‘Achilles’... not only observe the enemy’s movements around the clock and eliminate them as they approach, but support Ukrainian army counterattacks.”

Pokrovsk updates

Syrsky said the hottest sector of the front – around the city of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region – was still being subjected to repeated Russian attacks, despite heavy losses.

According to AFU data, Russian forces suffered 1,740 killed and wounded across all fronts on Dec. 16, marking a near one-day casualty record for the war.

Ukraine’s USF, in a Tuesday statement citing strike and reconnaissance units operating in the Pokrovsk sector, credited rising Russian personnel and vehicle losses to clearing weather and reduced fog and rain, which has allowed Ukrainian drone pilots to fly more intensively since the weekend.

Syrsky claimed that recent Ukrainian ground counter-attacks within Pokrovk had “regained control over 16 square kilometers [6 square miles] in the northern part of the city and recaptured 56 square kilometers [22 square miles] of territory in the areas of the settlements of Hryshyne, Kotlyne, Udachne west of Pokrovsk.”

On Wednesday, Ukrainian military observers did not confirm Syrsky’s claims about Pokrovsk. Independent OSINT group DeepState reported Russian control of the city’s south, disputed control in the center and north, and an unspecified number of Ukrainian troops likely cut off – and possibly surrounded – in the nearby satellite town of Myrnohrad.

Most Ukrainian sources on Wednesday reported battles in progress, the majority of them taking place in kill zones chosen by Kyiv’s forces to engage Russian infantrymen advancing in small groups.

Yury Butusov, a leading Ukrainian combat correspondent, on Wednesday published images of Russian motorcycle troops he identified as a sub-element of Russia’s 32nd Guards Motor Rifle Brigade being engaged by mortars, artillery, drones and rocket artillery in fields to the east of Pokrovsk.

Most of the video was watermarked with unit identifiers from the 32nd Mechanized Brigade, a Ukrainian formation reporting itself in the Pokrovsk sector.

Butusov said Ukrainian defenses in the Pokrovsk sector obtained a “total elimination of the motorcycle kamikaze troops” by allowing them to drive out into the open and then unleashing fires upon them.

A Ukrainian military situation report on Wednesday morning says Kyiv’s forces had repelled 82 Russian assaults in the Pokrovsk sector over the past 24 hours.

A video from the 46th Air Assault Brigade in the Pokrovsk sector showed a 10-vehicle armored column – including two tanks, two BMP infantry fighting vehicles, an MTLB swamp transporter, two quadcycles, and a car – advancing east of Pokrovsk on snowy roads and coming under artillery fire.

The report claimed 8 vehicles were destroyed and that retreating infantry suffered at least 49 killed or wounded from follow-up mortar and drone strikes, including attacks by bombers and FPV drones.