MOSCOW, August 21. /TASS/. The Ukrainian military is attempting to bring reserves to the Kupyansk area but Russian forces are disrupting these attempts, Vitaly Ganchev, head of the Kharkov Region military-civilian administration, said on Monday.

"They are, undoubtedly, attempting to bring reserves here, to the Kupyansk area. However, our aircraft and artillery immediately strike them while they are still on the march and that is why they have difficulties even with the arrival of reinforcements," he said in a live broadcast on the Rossiya-24 television channel.

The Ukrainian military is sustaining heavy losses and "has no personnel to replenish troops," Ganchev said.

The head of the Kharkov Region military-civilian administration said on August 10 that Russian forces were levelling out their defenses in the Kupyansk area and were "just a few kilometers" away from Kupyansk. He said that the evacuation announced by the Ukrainian authorities was due to the Kiev forces’ attempts to set up defensive lines in Kupyansk and several other populated areas. He also said that many local residents did not want to evacuate.