As of November 2025, Russian forces claim control of the city while top Ukrainian military officials deny this.[7]
Until 18 July 2020, Kupiansk was incorporated as acity of oblast significance and the center of Kupiansk Municipality. The municipality was abolished in July 2020, as part of administrative reforms in Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions in Kharkiv Oblast to seven. The area of Kupiansk Municipality was merged into Kupiansk Raion.[8][9]
Overview
Kupiansk is located on the bank of theOskil River. Kupiansk is divided into three subparts, known as: Kupiansk (main part of town),Kupiansk-Vuzlovyi (where the train station is), andKivsharivka.
Kupiansk is about two and a half hours fromKharkiv. The two cities are connected by train and bus.
The town of Kupyansk was first known as Sloboda Kupyansk, which was founded in the year 1655. It was a free settlement until the year 1685, when it received "town" status. It was a part of Russia up until the second world war.
World War II
Kupiansk was occupied duringWorld War II byGermany from 24 July 1942 to 3 February 1943.
Russo-Ukrainian war
Kupiansk was firstoccupied by Russian forces from 27 February 2022 to 10 September 2022.[10] Although the Ukrainian Army had destroyed a railway bridge to slow the Russian advance three days earlier, Kupiansk MayorHennadiy Matsehora, member of theOpposition Platform — For Life party, surrendered the city to theRussian Army in exchange for a cessation of hostilities, as the Russians threatened to take the city by force. As a result, the Ukrainian governmentindicted Matsehora fortreason the next day.[11][12] On 28 February 2022, Matsehora was arrested by Ukrainian authorities.[13] Later Kupiansk became thede facto seat of the Russian-backedKharkiv military-civilian administration[14] and an important logistical supply route.[15] At Kupiansk town hall, theUkrainian flag continued to be flown for 6 weeks, and at the medical school for 3 months.[16] Locals were forced to work for the occupation force, paint bridges in the colours of theRussian flag and perform railway repair for alleged salaries that were never paid out.[16]
Kupiansk was liberated during the2022 Kharkiv counteroffensive. On 8 September 2022, a representative of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine announced that Ukrainian forces had retaken more than 20 settlements in theKharkiv Oblast and "in some areas penetrated Russian defence positions up to 50km". On the same day, the Russian occupation authorities claimed that "the Russian army began to defend the city" and that "additional reinforcements entered the region from Russia", indicating that Ukrainian forces were re-approaching the city from the west, after retaking the town ofShevchenkove earlier that day.[17] On 9 September 2022, Ukrainian forces re-entered the outskirts of Kupiansk and its administrative borders, starting thebattle of Kupiansk.[citation needed] By the morning of 10 September 2022, Ukrainian forces had recaptured the city council building.[18] Later that day, a Ukrainian official confirmed that theUkrainian Armed Forces had liberated the city.[19] By September 26, Ukrainian Forces liberated Kupiansk-Vuzlovyi, the sister city of Kupiansk, located on the left bank of the Oskil River.[20]
After retreating from the city, Russian troops repeatedly shelled it.[21][22] In particular, the central city hospital, high-rise buildings and a lyceum,[23] the Kupiansk-Vuzlovyi railway station[24] and others were damaged.[25]
The first strikes against the town were on 13 September, which killed two civilians.[26] The next day, one person was wounded from airstrikes.[27] On 18 September, five people were injured from shelling in Kupiansk.[28] Two days later, two civilians were killed and five injured after Russian shelling on the city.[29] On 22 September, a woman and two children were injured by shelling.[30]
On 26 September, Russian forcesshelled a convoy of civilians escaping the villages of Kurylivka and Pishchane near Kupiansk, killing 26 civilians. Signs of torture were discovered in Russian administration centers throughout the city.[31]
On 27 September, five civilians were injured after a Russian strike on a church in Kupiansk.[32]
On 3 October, Russian shelling of a hospital in Kupiansk killed a doctor and injured a nurse.[33] One woman was injured on 5 October by an airstrike.[34]
Kupiansk's bridge over the Oskil River was partially damaged in combat, and became suitable only for use by pedestrians.[35] Russian forces bombed the local meat factory of Kupiansk, killing around a thousand pigs.[35]
On 3 March 2023, Ukrainian authorities ordered an evacuation of civilians from the city due to advances of the Russian Armed Forces around Kupiansk and Bakhmut.[36]
On 14 November 2024, two Russian armoured vehicle columns advanced into the city from the northeast,[37][38] though reportedly had tenuous control over the area.[37] Russian forces made further progress into the city the following day, with fighting reportedly ongoing in the industrial area, and were reportedly setting up supply lines to assist in further offensive efforts.[39] After facing logistical problems, Russian forces withdraw from Kupiansk in late November.
Aftermath of Russian shelling of Kupiansk, 25 January 2023
At the end of November 2024, a Ukrainian official confirmed that Russian troops recently crossed over to the west bank of the Oskil River north of Kupiansk near the suspension bridge south of Novomlynsk.[40][41] At the same time, Ukraine's General Staff admitted that Russian forces launched attacks on the west bank near Fyholivka, Holubivka, and Kindrashivka.[42] The fighting continued into December 2024,[43] when Ukrainian troops reported that Russian forces were attempting to cross the Oskil river a few kilometres north of Kupiansk city.
At the end of January 2025, theInstitute for the Study of War assessed that Russian forces are attempting to use their bridgeheads across the Oskil river to support their advances and encircle Kupiansk from the northwest, as well as set the ground for future advances and offensives into Kharkiv Oblast.[44] In September 2025, the Russian Ministry of Defense stated that the seizure of Kupiansk would support Russian efforts to advance towardSloviansk andKramatorsk (both south of Kupiansk) and seize Ukraine's fortress belt in Donetsk Oblast, which further highlighted the strategic importance of the city during the war.[45]
On 24 May 2025,Ukrainska Pravda reported that over 90% of Kupiansk is destroyed or damaged from the bombardment.[46]
During theKupiansk offensive, misinformation and false intelligence reports have sparked friendly fire incidents among Ukrainian troops. By early October 2025 the city was again partially occupied by Russia.[47] On 20 November 2025, the Russian Defense Ministry announced the full capture of Kupiansk, although the Ukrainian military denies this.[48] On 12 December, President Zelenskyy confirmed with his visit that the city is not captured.[49]
Uawire reports that "The operation to liberate Kupyansk remains far from complete", and that "Clearing continues “house by house,” complicated by the presence of civilians “whom the Russians use as human shields.""[50]
^abSobieski, Jessica; Harward, Christina; Young, Justin; Mappes, Grace; Stepanenko, Kateryna; Iredale, Veronica (24 November 2025)."Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, November 24, 2025".Institute for the Study of War.Ukrainian Kharkiv Oblast Military Administration Head Oleh Synehubov reported on November 24 that Ukrainian efforts to evacuate civilians continue but that 560 residents remain in Kupyansk.
^abMappes, Grace; Sobieski, Jessica; Olmsted, Jennie; Young, Justin; Simanovskyy, Misha; Harward, Christina; Barros, George (26 November 2025)."Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, November 26, 2025".Institute for the Study of War.Ukrainian Kharkiv Oblast Military Administration Head Oleh Synehubov reported on November 26 that about 3,000 civilians remain in the Kupyansk direction, including 560 civilians in Kupyansk itself.
^Goodhind, William (2023). "Report 7: Russian Military Convoys, Occupied-Kupiansk, Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine, 5 and 31 May 2022" (Document). Contested Ground.doi:10.13140/RG.2.2.22703.10407/1.
^abWolkov, Nicole; Mappes, Grace; Stepanenko, Kateryna; Runkel, William; Runkel, William; Gibson, Olivia; Kagan, Frederick W.; Trotter, Nate (14 November 2024)."Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, November 14, 2024".Institute for the Study of War. Retrieved16 November 2024.
^Mappes, Grace; Hird, Karolina; Evans, Angelica; Runkel, William; Gasparyan, Davit; Gibson, Olivia; Barros, George; Trotter, Nate (15 November 2024)."Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, November 15, 2024".Institute for the Study of War. Retrieved16 November 2024.
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