ISW: The Kremlin admitted its operational intentions for Kharkov to justify the heavy losses at Kupyansk

Russia's statement of intent to advance in the Kharkiv region testifies that it has not given up its territorial ambitions regarding Ukrainian lands. As the latest report by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) points out, the statement directly contradicts the Russian Federation’s repeated claims that its main ambitions are limited to the Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia, and Kherson regions.

Analysts suggest that the Russian Defense Ministry made the statement about the Kharkiv region in order to justify to the Russians the ongoing losses during the operation to capture Kupyansk.

"The Russian Defense Ministry has rarely declared its operational intentions so openly as in the statement of September 23. This was probably done to create an information effect,“ the ISW suggests.

The Institute's analysts add that at the moment there is no confirmation that Russian forces have partially surrounded Ukrainian troops in Kupyansk.

The situation near Kupyansk began to become more complicated in the summer. Russian troops tried to penetrate the city through a gas pipeline. The operational command "North“ of the ground forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that the defense forces had fired on the Russians.

On September 22, the spokesman for the operational-strategic group of troops "Dnipro" Viktor Tregubov noted that Russian troops were trying to penetrate Kupyansk from the north. The situation is complicated, but the city is not surrounded.