On Friday, Ukraine announced the recovery of two settlements in the northern Kharkiv area and reported that it had pushed Russian forces back in Kupiansk, a vital railway junction that Russia had claimed to capture the previous month.

The Khartia army corps shared on social media that “Kindrashivka, Radkivka, and their surrounding areas have been liberated, along with several neighborhoods in northern Kupiansk.”

At the end of November, the Russian military asserted that it had once again taken control of Kupiansk, a city it first captured in 2022, only for Ukrainian forces to reclaim it that fall.

In recent months, Russia has proclaimed successes on the battlefield, while Ukrainian forces find themselves on the defensive.

Kyiv has routinely dismissed Russian assertions of significant territorial gains as Moscow’s attempts to convey a narrative of Ukraine’s imminent downfall to sway peace negotiations.

Washington is currently urging Kyiv to consider significant territorial compromises as part of its strategy to resolve the nearly four-year conflict.

On Thursday, President Volodymyr Zelensky informed reporters, including those from AFP, “The Russians are much more adept at leveraging the information landscape than any of our allies, disseminating narratives that don’t align with reality.”

He emphasized, “We must counter blatant falsehoods.”

As of now, Russia has not officially announced the annexation of the Kharkiv region, where Kupiansk is situated. Zelensky noted that the latest draft of a U.S. proposal to end the conflict could involve a Russian withdrawal from these areas, coupled with Ukraine’s exit from the Donetsk region.