Russia amasses more than 100,000 troops in Kupiansk sector – military spox

Serhii Cherevatyi, spokesperson for the Eastern Grouping of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, said this on national television, Ukrinform reports.

"In the Lyman and Kupiansk direction, the enemy has concentrated a very powerful force - more than 100,000 personnel, more than 900 tanks, more than 555 artillery systems, 370 self-propelled guns. For understanding, the largest number of Soviet troops in Afghanistan was 120,000," Cherevatyi said.

He noted that in this area, the enemy had concentrated landing units, the best motorized infantry units, as well as territorial troops and private military companies as the reserve.

"They are concentrating everything in order to break through our defenses. Our soldiers are on the defensive. They don't allow the enemy to finally seize the initiative. That's why they hit them constantly," the spokesman said.

According to him, enemy forces and their equipment are being destroyed in this sector, so they need to repair the equipment and rotate their personnel.

"Given that they announced a major strategic offensive early this spring, they want to show at least some success. That's why they concentrated their maximum efforts in this direction to show that they are capable of some offensive actions after the failure of the Bakhmut operation, where we seized the initiative now," Cherevatyi added.