Kupyansk, known in the past as an important trading hub, has today become a symbol of struggle and destruction. Historically, the city was closely associated with trade, which is reflected even in its name - according to one version, it comes from the word “merchant”. Another version associates the name with “bumps” — peat mounds that covered the area.
Located 50 kilometers from the border with Russia, the city became one of the first targets of the Russian invasion. Kupyansk, once with a population of more than 25,000 people and a strategic railway junction, has become a symbol of resilience and another major casualty of this Russian-Ukrainian war. Today it is a ruined city that disappears under the blows of war.
Occupation: six months of terror
At the very beginning of the invasion, the then mayor Gennady Matsegora, elected from the pro-Russian party, surrendered the city without resistance. The Russians assured that life in Kupyansk would be familiar, but these promises quickly dissipated. The occupiers established control over the city, turning it into a logistics hub for transporting equipment and weapons. Territories of utilities and heating networks were used for their own needs. Schools switched to Russian curricula, replacing Ukrainian textbooks. The Russians imposed strict rules: Ukrainian television was cut off, communications were constantly blocked, and occupiers who disagreed with the policy were tortured in local torture chambers. According to Investigation.Info, there were at least four torture victims in Kupyansk: on the territory of a sugar plant, a heating network, a water channel and a police station.
Residents, despite all the difficulties, showed solidarity: organized self-defense groups, helped each other with medicine, food and other things.
The end of the occupation, but not the shelling
On September 9, 2022, Ukrainian troops liberated Kupyansk during a large-scale counteroffensive in Kharkiv region. The city returned to Ukrainian control, but the Russians did not stop shelling. The central city hospital, residential buildings, educational institutions and the railway station were affected.
Today, the Russians are attacking the city using artillery, RSFs, guided aerial bombs and FPV drones. According to the latest data, Russian troops are only 2.5—3 kilometers from Kupyansk, which turns it into an active combat zone.
Kharkiv Regional Military Administration announced mandatory evacuation of population from Kupyansk, Kivsharivka, Kurilovka and other settlements. Evacuation is carried out with the help of armored vehicles, special attention is paid to the elderly and persons with disabilities. Despite the threat, about 2.5 thousand people remain in the city. Volunteers and rescuers help those who decide to evacuate and those who, despite everything, still remain.
Kupyansk in the lens of Ivan Samoilov
Photojournalist Ivan Samoilov visited Kupyansk twice — in September 2023 and in October 2024. His lens captured the transformation of the city, which literally disappears.
“In September 2023, we went to Kupiansk several times, in particular to Kivsharivka, where the evacuation took place,” Samoilov recalls. “Then we could safely move across the crossing in the city center. However, then after our trip, volunteers died there, and the crossing ceased to function.”
Despite the shelling, the mood of local residents in 2023 remained optimistic. The Russians were then about eight kilometers from the city. “In Kivsharivka there were shops, post offices, minibuses drove to Kharkov, although the roads and crossings were in terrible condition,” says the photographer. “People then said: “We will stay and live here.”
Even then, the danger was felt. “We could afford to shoot in the center for several hours, but there was always a feeling that it could fly at any moment,” adds Ivan.
2024: constant threat and emptiness
In October 2024, the situation has changed dramatically. “Now the center of Kupyansk is dead, there is no one there. If someone passes, then only at high speed, because Russian FPV drones track the movement and hit the cars,” Samoilov says.
The documentarian came under Russian shelling in the market. “We talked with locals, took pictures, and two minutes after we left, nearby, 200-300 meters away, a half-ton guided air bomb flew. She killed a woman and wounded many, including the grandmother we were just talking to. It was horrible. She was hospitalized in Kharkov hospital. Later she called us from the hospital, asked for help,” recalls the photographer.
Now there is anxiety and hopelessness in the city. “People understand that sooner or later they will have to leave,” Samoilov says. “The left bank of Kupyansk is already completely empty: no light, no electricity. And the right one is also slowly disappearing. Stores and pharmacies are closed. The market we were in was destroyed.”
Samoilov notes a change in sentiment among locals. “I felt that people treated journalists and visitors in general with distrust. After the shelling in the market, they hinted that it was coming through us. It's absurd, of course, but their fear is understandable,” he says.
According to him, even in the most difficult conditions in 2023, people remained optimistic, and now the situation is much gloomier. “Kupyansk is gradually dissolving under the blows of the Cabs. There is almost no life left here,” he concludes.
Photos of Ivan Samoilov convey not only the physical destruction of Kupyansk, but also the gradual disappearance of the city as a living organism and the pain of its inhabitants who lose their homes.
Ivan Samoilov- photojournalist and videographer from Kharkov, who actively documents the Russian-Ukrainian war. Instagramphotographer.
