Semenuja told Strana.ua, on Monday, that the decision was due to the increase of Russian Armed Forces near Kupyansk, which suggests the beginning of an early offensive against that locality, east of Kharkiv.

The official said that the number of Russian troops has been increasing in the settlement for several weeks, where the Ukrainian units have set up several fortifications.

Earlier, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported that in the direction of Kupyansk, the artillery fire inflicted a defeat on accumulations of workforce and military equipment in the Sinkovka, Tabaevka, and Krajmalnoe areas of the Kharkiv region.

Russia has been conducting a special military operation in Ukraine since February 24th with the aim of denazifying and demilitarizing the neighboring country so as to put an end to the genocide that nationalists have been committing against the inhabitants of the Donbas, President Vladimir Putin explained.

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