Russia deepens its bridgehead west of the Oskil and threatens Koupiansk

Unsurprisingly, natural borders, like waterways, shape the Ukrainian conflict. The Oskil River, which more or less follows the border between the Kharkiv and Lugansk oblasts (a little further west, however), has partly served as a front line since the successful Ukrainian counter-offensive in the fall of 2022. They had then succeeded in repelling the Russians from a large area of ​​10,000 km2 located in the Kharkiv region and which formed a balcony above the Donbass, which was thus threatened by the North. Since then, the Russians, who have returned to the offensive since the fall of 2023, have been slowly pushing westward to regain ground. Until now, their objective, as their operations suggested, was to reach the Oskil, but without crossing the river, so that it could serve as a natural border to protect the annexed oblast of Lugansk.

As he wrote Le Figaro from November 28, the Russians…