Ukrainian Forces withdrawal from Krokhmalne: Expert comments on threat to Kupiansk

Judging by the map, the R-07 highway is cut off in another location, and there may seem to be a threat of enemy advancement on Kupiansk or at least encirclement of Ukrainian forces in Kyslivka and Kotliarivka. However, military expert Colonel Vladyslav Seleznov doubts this.

Russians captured Krokhmalne and cut off the R-07 highway from Svatove to Kupiansk in another location (Photo: deepstatemap.live)

However, military expert Vladyslav Seleznov doubts this.

"This option poses no threats. The Russians captured a piece of land 2x2 km, and there are no prerequisites for any further success for them. The road is not used by the Defense Forces, and a settlement of 5-6 houses is unlikely to be a factor that will fundamentally change the situation on the battlefield. Svatove is occupied, and for understandable reasons, we do not travel there along the R-07 highway. To say that it can be used as a bypass road is also not worth it," he tells RBC-Ukraine.

In addition, the expert adds that control over road sections does not mean that the enemy can easily advance further.

"Of course, the enemy still has the task of reaching the left bank of the Oskil River, although considering that the occupiers have been lingering near Synkivka for months, it is unclear how they will implement it," he added.

Ukrainian Armed Forces withdraw from Krokhmalne in Kharkiv region

Last week, the Armed Forces of Ukraine withdrew from Krohmalne, which they regained control of during the counteroffensive in the Kharkiv region in the fall of 2022. But now, the Russians first captured this settlement in 2024.

"This is a settlement where 45 people lived before the start of the large-scale war. Let's say it's five houses, and these five houses have been destroyed by the aggressor," explains the spokesperson of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Volodymyr Fitio.

Lately, the occupiers have been consolidating their forces, conducting regrouping, and even deploying additional army corps. According to Fitio, there are 200,000 Russians concentrated in the responsibility zone of the Khortytsia group. Specifically, in the Kupiansk direction, there are 44,000. He also assured that our forces withdrew from Krohmalne to prepare positions, and they considered the loss of the village as a temporary phenomenon.

"We just don't report the liberation of 100 or 200 meters. We don't need to do that. And for Russian propagandists, any victory must be presented as a Pyrrhic victory to show why , in January alone, they lost 7,055 people in the Khortytsia responsibility zone. So, a meter or two gained, and they're already shouting that they took Berlin," added the spokesman.

Ivan Shevtsov, the head of the press service of the 15th border detachment brigade "Steel Border," says that there were no local residents in the village, and in principle, everything there is destroyed. The situation there is not problematic overall, and Ukrainian fighters were simply withdrawn from a point that held out for a long time.

To the point

The village of Kyslivka is located 27 km from Kupiansk and 5 km from the Kobylka River. The village of Kotliarivka adjoins the village. The Kyslivka station is located on the Kupiansk - Svatove - the R-07 highway crosses the Popasna railway and the village.

The village is crossed by the Kupiansk - Svatove - Popasna railroad, Kyslivka station (Photo: deepstatemap.live)