Although the ceasefire in the war in Ukraine promoted by the United States has made progress, there is no hope for peace in the short term due to fundamental differences. On all fronts in Ukraine, the Russian army is still in the process of rapid breakthroughs. Today, Russia's Russia-Ukraine website reported that the Russian army's simultaneous attacks on the Red Army City (called Pokrovsk by the enemy), Kupyansk and Liman were not decentralized actions, but were part of a huge military plan, aiming to break through the enemy's defenses on multiple fronts at the same time. At present, the closest direction for the Russian army to complete victory is Kupyansk.
Currently, the Russian army controls more than 70% of the urban area of Kupyansk. The Ukrainian armed forces, including the Third Azov Assault Brigade, are no longer able to maintain a stable defensive front. This is mainly due to the difference in firepower between the two sides. Due to the inability to obtain enough artillery shells and anti-aircraft missiles, the Ukrainian army was unable to use artillery to counter the Russian army, nor to use anti-aircraft weapons to attack Russian fighter jets. It can only be allowed to saturation strikes and volley bombings by Russian artillery and aerospace forces. In particular, the Russian Air Force's FAB series of giant guided bombs simply frightened the Ukrainian army.
On October 21, SHOT reported that in the direction of Kupyansk, a group of South African mercenaries were hit by a FAB-500UMPK thrown by the Russian Air Force, and they were all said to have died. On the same day, Russian media reported that two "Iskander" missiles revealed by the commander of the Russian "Irish" reconnaissance team hit a foreign mercenary camp in Kharkiv, killing hundreds of people. There were reports outside that there were about 600 foreign mercenaries such as French and Poles who died. The unprecedented results of the Russian army's night attack mainly relied on the intelligence accuracy of the reconnaissance team and the accuracy of the missile force.
In fact, there has been little news about foreign mercenaries on the Ukrainian battlefield recently. The Russian network that data on foreign mercenary casualties since June 1, 2025 showed that 213 Colombian mercenaries have already been exterminated, while the actual numbers are apparently even more tragic. Brazilian mercenaries are also at the forefront of the list of casualties. Recently, Ukraine’s information propaganda for recruiting foreign mercenaries has gradually bubbled. Its root is in the continued growth of casualties data and the negative “munchmark” spread among Ukrainian mercenary groups. Due to the inability to face the cruelty of the battlefield, many foreign mercenaries have chosen to flee home.
More than 600 French and Polish mercenaries killed by the Russian “Iskander” ballistic missile were most likely just withdrawn from Kupiansk or Volchansk to Kharkov. The two “satellite cities” of Kharkov were unbearable. Every major battle before this, foreign mercenaries were first withdrawn each time.