Ukraine scrabbles for handholds against Russia’s massive assault

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. ON DECEMBER 12TH situation maps around the key railway town of Kupiansk in Ukraine’s north-east flipped from red to blue. DeepState, a war monitor, explained the change: a successful Ukrainian counter-attack had liberated most of the town, leaving pockets of Russians encircled.

After midday came more drama, with Volodymyr Zelensky posting a selfie video from the town’s edge. Barely 1km from enemy positions,and just weeks after Vladimir Putin had declared the town to be his, the Ukrainian president challenged Kremlin claims to be winning the war. “They talked a lot about Kupiansk.

Now we see the truth for ourselves." Much about the Kupiansk operation remains secret. Part of the reason is that it is ongoing. Perhaps 200 Russian defenders remain isolated in basements in the town.

But part is because Ukraine is keeping secret the methods it hopes will help it regain a winning edge elsewhere. Participants refuse to say how they circumvented the all-seeing eyes and kill-zones of the modern battlefield. “There are war games and different courses of action, but these are things the enemy must not know," says Ihor Obolensky, commander of the Khartiia corps, who developed the original operational plan.

“Above all it’s about creative thinking, a feel for the enemy, a sense of his rhythm." The Kupiansk counter-attack was conceived in response to increasing Russian pressure in the late summer. The first stages of an operation to relieve the town began as early as August 24th, Ukraine’s independence day. Yet by mid-September the situation grew critical, with Russian troops breaching the Oskil river that runs through the town, occupying the town centre, and threatening a much larger grouping of