Sawt Falasteen - As Russia advances on Kupiansk, Ukrainians fear second occupation

Captured by Russia on the first day of its 2022 invasion, then retaken by Ukraine in a stunning counter-offensive months later, the logistics hub is once again in Moscow's crosshairs.

Russian soldiers dressed in civilian clothes have been infiltrating its streets in attacks from the north, Ukraine's military has conceded. Moscow claims to have the city encircled.

Locals like Bardas -- a 50-year old municipal worker who AFP met at a displacement centre -- fear what could happen if Russia captures the city again.

As in most places they seized, Moscow's forces hunted and then tortured dozens of civilians suspected of supporting Kyiv, according to testimonies collected by rights groups and Ukrainian authorities.

"They were looking for those who fought in 2014, they were looking very hard," said Bardas, who stayed in the city through the seven-month Russian occupation.

"They beat them severely. I heard this, I know this. Because I had a couple of friends there. I don't even want to think about it," he said with evident fear in his eyes.

- 'Kill zone' -

Ukraine recaptured Kupiansk in a counter-offensive in autumn 2022, embarrassing the Kremlin and winning plaudits from Kyiv's Western backers.

But, three years later, Russia's forces are at its gates once more.

"I didn't think it would be lost again," Bardas said, dejected.

Until early October, he was among an estimated 760 civilians staying in the ruins of the city.

He lived there his whole life, but struggled to recall how it was before the Russian invasion.

"After these three years, it's hard to remember. Mostly, only the bad things come to mind now."

Facing Russia's approaching army and with an onslaught of new deadly tethered drones -- hard to detect and impossible to jam as they run on fibre-optic cables -- he packed his bags and left.

The devices have transformed the front into a 15-kilometre (nine-mile) deep "kill zone."

To escape, Vitaly's neighbour drove him through fields -- safer than the roads, where drones lay in ambush to chase and explode into cars.

With no mobile connection to the city, Vitaly has not heard from the neighbour since he was dropped off.

- 'Dirty Russian' -

Not far from Kupiansk, Vadim, a soldier, felt uneasy as he prepared to cross the kill zone to resupply troops at the front.

His hands shaking, he said he took each mission "as if it were the last".

The city holds both strategic and symbolic importance to Moscow.

"Kupiansk will become a logistics hub for them if they capture it," said Ukrainian drone commander Dandy.

"It is also a political target because it has already been occupied. They now need to show some kind of victory," he added.

In a Ukrainian command centre behind the fighting, large screens relay footage from a dozen drones buzzing over the city, razed to little more than a pile of smoking ruins.

"There! A dirty Russian!" an officer shouted.

Spotting the danger, the Russian soldier suddenly looked up and started scampering clumsily through the underbrush.

A fireball silently explodes on the screen.

The soldiers watched the man convulse on the ground, before he succumbed and turned motionless.

- 'Go home' -

Natalia Guseva, 50, is another local worried about a Russian takeover.

She moved to Poland in August 2022, but rushed back when Ukraine liberated the area around Kupiansk weeks later.

Her son serves in the Ukrainian army. She has buried his military diploma in the garden, lest it be discovered.

"But I can't remember where," said the woman, who now lives in Borivske, around 20 kilometres (12 miles) from Kupiansk, as neighbouring villages have already been ravaged by Russian drones.

While she was buying a cabbage from a makeshift street stall, the seller interjected to address the prospect of Russia recapturing the area: "Once was more than enough."

Though convinced that Ukraine, if necessary, could liberate it again -- Guseva is fed up of living in fear.

"It's time for them to go home."

A.AbuSaada--SF-PST