Kupiansk, Ukraine (CNN)Ukraine had hoped it would mark a turning point. Six months have passed since Russia launched its invasion and Ukraine has since fired back with two counteroffensives -- one in the South and the other in the East -- carefully planned for months and supported by massive US military aid packages.

Not even the messaging was left to chance. Ahead of the first counteroffensive launched in the south on August 29th, public communications were carefully crafted to lay the groundwork for the second Ukrainian military campaign in the east, which began last week.

Authorities have denied journalists access to the frontlines and only certain images posted on social media by Ukrainian soldiers are allowed to be published.

The result: an impression that Ukraine is effortlessly pushing Russian forces back from territory they've controlled for more than six months.

The truth, inevitably for a war zone, is far less clear-cut.

CNN was given exclusive access to the town of Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region, just a day after pictures emerged showing soldiers hoisting the Ukrainian flag on the roof of the town's municipal building.

Far from being a town under full Ukrainian control, CNN found one still being bitterly fought for.

At the edge of the town, Vasyl -- who declined to give his last name for security reasons -- tells us that for days "they (the Russians) were shelling and shelling" in the ongoing fight in Kharkiv.