MOSCOW, December 20. /TASS/. The Russian Armed Forces have established a bridgehead south of Kupyansk-Uzlovoy in the Kharkov Region, and are now approaching the settlement, Colonel Vitaly Kiselyov, a military expert from Donbass, said on the Solovyov Live TV channel.

"We have moved very close to Kupyansk-Uzlovoy from the south. The plan is to expand the bridgehead, so that we can surround [the city of] Kupyansk both from the south and from the north, to encircle it, rather than push our way through," the expert said.

He specified that Russia has also established a bridgehead on the left bank of the Oskol River, near which the city of Kupyansk is located.

Ukrainian forces have been shifting significant reserves to this settlement, including fresh recruits with little to no training, to retain Kupyansk. The loss of the city would result in the defeat of the battlegroup, which is fighting in the Slavyansk, Kramatorsk and Krasny Liman areas and is engaged in holding these strategically important settlements.