– The city of Kupyansk is under the control of the Russian Sixth Army – said Leonid Sharov, head of the military group West, to the state news agency TASS.
Diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict continued this week in Berlin, where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed progress in talks with US negotiators on Monday.
European leaders outlined plans for a multinational force to guarantee peace.
Russia announced it had captured Kupyansk in November, but Ukraine later claimed it had recaptured several areas of the city.
Sharov said that “small groups” of Ukrainian soldiers try to enter Kupyansk, a railway hub in the Kharkiv region, every day.
– All areas of the city are under the control of Russian forces – he insisted.
In a video released on Friday, Zelensky said he visited troops in the Kupyansk area, after Kiev announced the recapture of several districts and two nearby towns.
His visit came shortly after Ukrainian forces announced a “breakthrough” in the area.
The Russian army launched a large-scale offensive in Ukraine in February and 2022 and currently occupies 20 percent of the country, in the east and south, reports AFP.
(Vijesti.ba / FENA)
