In the Kharkiv region (northeast), Ukrainian forces claim to have recaptured thousands of square kilometers from Russian forces this month. But in the city of Kupyansk, divided in two by the Oskil River, the enemy is holding on, reports AFP.

AFP journalists found that on the western bank, retaken by the Ukrainian army, propaganda signs from Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party can still be seen above shops with smashed windows, and artillery fire can be heard regularly.

The Kharkiv region, which borders Russia, has been partially occupied by Moscow since the invasion began on February 24. But in early September, the Ukrainians repulsed the Russians in a counteroffensive.

Near Kupyansk, a railway junction, Kyiv troops are still fighting: the Russians have positions on the other side of the river, where most of the fighting is taking place.

On Monday, several civilians tried to flee the bombed-out city, which residents said had been without water and electricity for a week.

“It is impossible to stay where we used to live. It was shelled (…) hour after hour,” said 56-year-old Lyudmila, who endured the fighting to cross the river from the east bank to the relatively safe west bank. . “It’s very difficult there,” she sums up.

“There is no light or electricity for a week. There is no water,” 49-year-old Ruslan, a former policeman, told AFP.

Broken bridges

Most of the shelling heard on Monday came from Ukrainian army tanks and artillery, but as a small unit of Kyiv soldiers advanced toward the bridge, which had been painted in Russian colors, a fierce exchange of rockets and shells erupted.

The Ukrainian military hid under a collapsed brick building as a plume of smoke rose into the distant sky. Nearby is a sign with the inscription “We are with Russia. A single nation.”

Military experts say that the Ukrainians’ recapture of Kupyansk, which had a population of about 58,000 before the war, will make it difficult for Russian troops stationed further south to defend their gains in the Donbas industrial basin, a key strategic goal of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Kupyansk is also a junction of roads across the Oskil River, several bridges were damaged as a result of the hostilities.

“The Ukrainians are getting closer, but there are still Russian troops in some parts of the city,” confirmed 33-year-old resident Olena Glushko, adding: “It’s just terrible. It’s terrible”.

Now Ukrainian troops are everywhere in the city, racing in converted civilian cars or walking in rows with bags of supplies.

When Elena saw them for the first time after six months of Russian occupation, she was stunned. “I wanted to cry and laugh at the same time,” she says.