Battle of Kupiansk

The battle of Kupiansk was a part of the Ukrainian Kharkiv counteroffensive that began on 8 September 2022 and ended on 16 September 2022. A Financial Times article on 28 September depicted the battle and the Ukrainian advance preceding it as "the 90km journey that changed the course of the war in Ukraine."

Background
Kupiansk was occupied by Russian forces from 27 February 2022. Although the Ukrainian army had destroyed a railway bridge to slow the Russian advance three days earlier, Kupiansk Mayor Hennadiy Matsehora, member of the Opposition Platform — For Life party, surrendered the city to the Russian Army in exchange for a cessation of hostilities, as the Russians threatened to take the city by force. As a result, the Ukrainian government indicted Matsehora for treason the next day. On 28 February 2022, Matsehora was arrested by Ukrainian authorities. Later Kupiansk became the de facto seat of the Russian-backed Kharkiv military-civilian administration and an important logistical supply route.

Prior to the battle, the Ukrainian general staff claimed an attack near Kupiansk on 5 September killed and wounded more than 100 Russian soldiers.

Battle
On 8 September 2022, following a large-scale Ukrainian counteroffensive capturing over 20 settlements in just days, Russian occupation authorities in the city claimed that Russian forces began to defend Kupiansk. On 10 September, a Ukrainian official published an image of members of the 92nd Mechanized Brigade's 1st Mechanized Battalion raising the Ukrainian flag over the city council building.

Maxim Gubin, the pro-Russian mayoral replacement for Matsehora, had fled to Russia following Ukraine retaking Kupiansk.

Kupiansk's bridge over the Oskil River was partially damaged in combat, and became suitable only for use by pedestrians. Russian forces bombed the local meat factory of Kupiansk, killing around a thousand pigs. Ukrainian forces recaptured parts of Kupiansk located on the eastern bank of the Oskil on 16 September, thus taking control of the entire city of Kupiansk.

Aftermath
Following the Ukrainian liberation of the town, Russian forces began to shell Kupiansk. The first strikes against the town were on 13 September, which killed two civilians. The next day, one person was wounded from airstrikes. On 18 September, five people were injured from shelling in Kupiansk. Two days later, two civilians were killed and five injured after Russian shelling on the city. On 22 September, a woman and two children were injured by shelling. On 27 September, five civilians were injured after a Russian strike on a church in Kupiansk.

On 3 October, Russian shelling of a hospital in Kupiansk killed a doctor and injured a nurse. One woman was injured on 5 October by an airstrike.

On 26 September, Russian forces shelled 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.