What happened in Kupyansk? Successful counterattack by the Charter group

Source: Author’s Facebook page

I have been working in Kupyansk for two months as part of the Charter search and strike group, and now I can talk in detail about the operation in which I am directly participating.

It is important to realize that the operation to liberate Kupyansk is not yet complete, it is too early to celebrate, the enemy is attacking daily, trying to break into the city again from the north and along the left bank, the enemy holds a significant part of the city, and the fierce battle continues.

I command several UAV crews near Kupyansk, I go out into position, and I want to say that the successful counterattack north of Kupyansk is primarily the merit of the fighters – infantrymen, artillerymen, UAV operators, who, under aimed fire from artillery and drones, broke through the enemy’s battle formations and repelled daily attacks in very difficult conditions and despite losses.

And now about who is in command of the operation, so as not to spread false information.

– On September 21, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, O. Syrsky, created a search and strike group as part of the 2nd Army Corps of the Charter National Guard to launch a counterattack north of Kupyansk. Colonel Igor Obolensky was appointed to command the operation.

– The senior commander in the direction was the commander of the OTU, General D. Krasilnikov.

– September 24, assault groups of the 475th armored personnel carrier regiment “Code 9.2” (commander – Hero of Ukraine O. Nastenko) liberated the village of Tyschenkivka.

– 9.10 assault groups of the 4th battalion of the 92nd assault brigade (commander – M. Kakulya) and the 475th regiment liberated the village of Kindrashivka.

– 11.10 assault groups of the armored personnel carriers of the 13th “Charter” brigade (commander – D. Nevgasimov) liberated the village of Radkivka. The liberation of Kindrashivka and Radkivka marked a breakthrough in the enemy’s defense.

– 17.10 M. Drapatiy was appointed senior chief in the direction.

– 21.10 the Charter assault group broke through to the Oskol River, the Russian offensive routes were cut off.

– From the beginning and to the present, the commander of the Charter, Colonel Obolensky, and the group headquarters headed by Serhiy Sydoryn, appointed by him, planned, commanded and were responsible for our work. Therefore, the information that is being spread in the blogosphere that the operation was allegedly commanded by M. Drapatiy is not true, Mykhailo Vasilyevich has many of his own merits, and we should not attribute others to him. Drapatiy is conducting his important work in the direction, and other commanders are conducting their work, and the merits of each should be noted truthfully.

Now what exactly happened?

In mid-September, the situation in Kupyansk became critical. The enemy – units of the 68th Motorized Rifle Division and the 27th Motorized Rifle Brigade, crossed the Oskol River on a wide front, gained a foothold, and began an offensive north of Kupyansk. The enemy captured the villages of Kindrashivka, Radkivka, Tyschenkivka, and Holubivka. Separate positions of Ukrainian soldiers of the 114th, 144th, and 117th brigades were actually cut off by the enemy and found themselves surrounded.

Using a gas pipeline and large forest areas, Russian assault groups broke through a land route directly into Kupyansk and effectively captured most of the city.

The dominant height in the northern part of the city with a television tower, multi-storey buildings, from which the approaches to the city are fully controlled, was captured by the enemy. These were not separate DRGs – these were assault detachments from the 121st, 122nd regiments, the 27th brigade, and the 1855th battalion of the Russian Armed Forces.

The search and strike group was tasked with pushing back the enemy and advancing to Oskol, closing the routes to Kupyansk and surrounding the occupiers in the city, and then liberating the city in cooperation with the troops of the 10th Army Corps and the “Kupyansk” tactical group.

The Charter group included units from the 92nd Assault Brigade, the 475th Assault Regiment “Code 9.2”, the 13th Brigade “Charter”, and the 144th Mechanized Brigade. For individual tasks, the Charter group involved a company from the 425th Assault Regiment “Skelya” and a group from the Legion “Freedom of Russia”. Drone support is provided by the calculations of the Lazar and Typhoon special forces units of the Kharkiv region and the patrol police.

The enemy deployed a battalion defense area in the area of Tyschenkivka, Kindrashivka and Radkivka, and at the same time continued assault operations further, and also created a “kill zone” with a high density of UAV operations of the unmanned troops, the 7th regiment, the “Doomsday” and “Rubikon” units. It is almost impossible to avoid a meeting with Russian drones. For example, the “Novator”, in which I went on the first reconnaissance, was also hit by a Russian fiber-optic drone, and only thanks to the protection of the vehicle were we lucky.

And despite such resistance and the enemy’s advantage in drones, due to effective planning, the Russian “kill zone” was breached in two areas at once, our actions became sudden and unexpected for the enemy, which allowed us to significantly reduce losses and not get stuck in the battle for any particular position.

Assault groups of the 475th Regiment “Code 9.2” and the 92nd Assault Brigade defeated enemy positions in the Kindrashivka area and took control of a key forest massif, inflicting colossal losses on the enemy with drone strikes. In the forest near Kindrashivka, the positions of the fighters of the 114th Brigade, which had been cut off by the enemy 6 months ago, were liberated.

Assault groups of the 13th “Charter” brigade defeated the enemy and liberated Radkivka and fulfilled the goal of the operation – they advanced to Oskol, completely restoring the ground defense line in this area. As a result, “Charter” cut off the enemy’s route of entry into Kupyansk, all exits from the pipe were scouted and turned into our “kill zones”.

Soldiers of the 92nd Brigade and the 144th Brigade have established themselves on advantageous lines, are fighting heroically, and are effectively repelling Russian attacks, clearing and destroying all breakthroughs and infiltrations.

Thus, the Russian troops in Kupyansk were completely surrounded in early November.

The command of the Russian 68th division immediately began attacks, which are carried out literally every day, in order to prevent the rapid liquidation of the units surrounded in Kupyansk. Russian attack aircraft, even when there are only one or two of them left from the group, still try to attack and infiltrate our battle formations in the fog and rain. As a result, they have to engage in battle even in the near rear – recently a mortar crew captured two occupiers.

However, the enemy fails to break through the defenses of the “Charter” group north of Kupyansk. All “infiltrators” are methodically destroyed throughout the entire depth of the battle formations thanks to competently organized reconnaissance, interaction, and defeat. We also have losses, and they are significant.
But the Russian losses are many times higher. Only the forces of the group and only according to objective control data, the elimination of more than 1,000 Russian soldiers, 13 occupiers taken prisoner, is confirmed.

The Charter group launched an attack on Russian positions in the north of Kupyansk, and together with soldiers from the Kupyansk tactical group, liberated several key residential areas.

It is necessary to note the soldiers of the tactical group “Kupyansk” (General V. Solimchuk), the fighters of the 127th mechanized brigade, the 425th regiment “Skelya”, the 125th mechanized brigade, the 116th mechanized brigade, the 101st guard brigade, the special forces of the VSP, SBU, the 151st regiment, the SSO and KORD. In general, this is not a lot of people in terms of numbers, but they are doing everything possible, and at first they restrained the offensive of the occupiers, and now they are also advancing towards the “Charter”, jointly liberating the occupied city.

It was the fighters of the Kupyansk Regional Military District – the 425th Assault Regiment “Skelya”, the 127th Brigade, and the 125th who completely liberated the important Yuvileyny high-rise neighborhood from the enemy, making it impossible for the enemy to hold the southern part of the city.

It is also important to note the soldiers of the 116th Mechanized and 14th Mechanized Brigades of the 10th Army Corps, who heroically defended the approaches to Kupyansk on the left bank of the Oskol River for a long time in extremely difficult conditions, preventing the enemy from breaking through to the city. Without their efforts, it would have been impossible to defend the city.

The statements of Putin and Gerasimov on November 20 about the “complete liberation” of Kupyansk and about the “readiness to bring foreign journalists to Kupyansk” were met with humor by Ukrainian soldiers near Kupyansk, since by that time the Russians were already completely cut off from the city.

I cannot now describe all the nuances of our tactics, which allowed us to break through the “kill zone” and reach Oskol with minimal forces. But it is the commanders who create on the battlefield the advantage that allows us to get ahead of the enemy in modern warfare even in the “kill zone”, and to carry out tasks even despite the greater number of people and drones on the enemy’s side. Therefore, the actions of the command, in my opinion, are an example of effective asymmetric actions by limited forces in a chaotic situation against an enemy who is superior in forces.

The operation to liberate Kupyansk is far from complete. Houses are being cleared day by day, the operation being complicated by the large number of civilians who remain in the city and whom the Russians are using as human shields.

Day after day, the enemy attacks our positions on the left and right banks of the Oskol to once again break through the route to Kupyansk. All who want to support Ukrainian Kupyansk – please help the main heroes – ordinary soldiers of the units and subdivisions that I named in the article.

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