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SRG in Kupiansk and threat of encirclement: How 15th Brigade of NGU is holding strategic hub against Russian assaults. VIDEO+PHOTOS

Ukrainian Witness journalists visited Kharkiv region where they talked to the commander and soldiers of the 15th "Kara-Dag" Brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine about the situation in the Kupiansk sector.

This was reported by Censor.NET with reference to Ukrainian Witness.

As noted, Russian sabotage and reconnaissance groups have broken into the city of Kupiansk, where they are shooting civilians, disguised as locals or wearing Ukrainian uniforms to make them difficult to detect, according to an official statement by the regional authorities and the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Kupiansk is of strategic importance for both the Russian occupiers and the Ukrainian army, as it is a huge logistics hub and the second largest railway junction in Kharkiv region. Soldiers of the "Kara-Dag" Brigade are defending the northern flank of the city.

In the Kharkiv region, the situation is only escalating, as the enemy is constantly bringing in fresh forces," said Oleksandr Bukatar (Bilyi), commander of the 15th "Kara-Dag" Brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine, who regularly goes out to combat positions..

According to him, the Russians act according to the following scheme: when one unit is destroyed, they immediately bring in a new one and continue to storm, trying to infiltrate between the combat formations of the Ukrainian Defence Forces brigades.

According to the General Staff, the enemy conducts an average of five to ten assaults daily in the Kupiansk sector, constantly changing tactics and continuing to try to capture the city itself. The commander assured that there is currently no threat of losing Kupiansk, but explained its military significance.

"If we assume, although I don't know exactly what has to happen for us to lose Kupiansk, but relatively speaking, it will be a threat of an enemy flanking attack, both to the right and to the left," he said.

At the same time, Bilyi noted that the Russians are now primarily concerned with holding on to their existing positions rather than advancing.

our military in Kupiansk
our military in Kupiansk
our military in Kupiansk

The Ukrainian Witness film crew also visited the positions of mortar launchers, where the soldiers told about the difficult working conditions. The time spent on the positions has increased due to the large number of enemy FPV drones, and the Russians have begun to actively use remote road mining with drones.

The commander of the mortar team, call sign Hrut, stressed the critical importance of holding the road approaching Kupiansk - if the enemy takes control of this road, another flank will open up, creating a threat of encirclement.

There is a road that also approaches Kupiansk, the city itself. If we give them control of this road, it will be a little more difficult for Kupiansk itself. Another flank will open up to the city of Kupiansk itself, and it will be harder for our fighters who are holding Kupiansk itself to hold two flanks than one." The fighter assures: "Kotel is a city that has been surrendered. We are trying to prevent this from happening," Hrut noted.

For his part, the commander of the "Kara-Dag" brigade stressed that his brigade was holding the frontline north of Kupiansk, where important logistics roads leading to the main entrance to the city are located. According to him, if these positions are not held, the entrance and all logistics of Kupiansk will be cut off.

The brigade commander also commented on the information about the SRG's entry: "The SRG can appear anywhere - that's the essence of the SRG. But it doesn't mean that it's critical, that it's an aggravation or, relatively speaking, that we've lost a piece of the city." According to Bilyi, "just some small groups on foot were infiltrating the combat formations of the Ukrainian Defence Forces, that's all. At the moment, the stabilisation and clearing operations are quite successful."