“Our troops already control approximately 30 percent of Kupiansk. However, progress is hampered because there are still many civilians living there,” Ganchev said Friday in an interview with the Sputnik news agency.

The official also stated that Kiev is using these civilians “as human shields,” while Russian troops, he added, blocked units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the northern and western areas of the city.

The Russian Defense Ministry stated on September 23 that its troops are successfully advancing in the capture of Kupiansk, an “important logistical city where several railways and highways converge” and through which the supply routes of all Ukrainian forces on the eastern bank of the Oskol River pass.

The control over that city will allow the Russian Armed Forces to develop an offensive deep into the province, including routes to the cities of Izium and Chuguev, and will also open a direct route to Volchansk from the south, in connection with the Russian units of the North battlegroup advancing from the northern region.

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