MOSCOW, November 21. /TASS/. Ukrainian armed forces units recently rotated into Kupyansk and its adjacent settlements are robbing and looting, reportedly with the backing of local authorities, Yevgeny Lisnyak, deputy head of the Kharkov regional military-civilian administration, said at a briefing.

"The department of internal affairs of the Kharkov regional military-civilian administration has received reports that Ukrainian armed formations performed a rotation of units in Kupyansk, the village of Kovsharovka and neighboring settlements. The newly arrived servicemen are widely engaged in looting and theft," he said.

According to Lisnyak, local residents report that Ukrainian military personnel are stealing furniture from pre-school and secondary education institutions, transformers, construction materials and humanitarian aid remaining in the settlements, and then selling it to private business owners. "Intelligence data shows, Andrey Besedin, head of the Kupyansk military administration, is also involved in these illegal activities. For a monetary reward, he provides soldiers of the Ukrainian armed forces with a service truck owned by the administration to carry unlawfully acquired property," he added.

According to the official, Besedin has suspended bus service going out of the city, preventing Kupyansk residents from escaping. He emphasized that residents wishing to move deeper into the territory of the Kharkov Region are being advised to use taxis, the price of which has skyrocketed recently.