Several pro-Russian war bloggers have claimed that Russian special forces quietly infiltrated several miles near the border town of Sudzha through a natural gas pipeline, attempting to surprise attack Ukrainian forces as part of Russia’s major offensive to reclaim its western Kursk region.
Prior to the peace negotiations between Ukraine and the United States to end the war, Russia’s operation in Kursk aims to eliminate thousands of Ukrainian soldiers in the region and ultimately drive out the Ukrainian forces.
Last August, Ukrainian forces launched an offensive in Kursk, subsequently occupying around 1300 square kilometers of land in the area. Kiev stated that this move was to gain leverage in future negotiations and force Russian troops to withdraw from eastern Ukraine.
In recent days, Russia has been working hard to regain control over the region and has achieved some success. Publicly available maps released last Friday showed that Russian forces have almost encircled Ukrainian troops in Kursk after swift advances.
Yuri Podolyaka, a pro-Russian military blogger born in Ukraine, stated that Russian special forces crawled nearly 16 kilometers (10 miles) inside a 1.5-meter-wide natural gas pipeline, stayed inside the pipeline for several days, and then launched an ambush from behind Ukrainian forces near Sudzha town.
Pro-Russian war blogger “Two Majors” mentioned a major battle for control of Sudzha town, with Russian troops entering the area through a main natural gas pipeline, catching Ukrainian soldiers off guard.
Ukrainian airborne assault forces released a statement saying that Russian soldiers attempted to establish a foothold through the pipeline, but were quickly discovered and came under attack by rockets, artillery, and drones.
The Russian Defense Ministry reported in its daily updates on the Kursk situation that Russian forces have retaken the village of Lebedevka and occupied the village of Novenke adjacent to Ukraine’s Sumy.
Russian officials did not mention the pipeline operation, but Chechen special forces commander Maj. Gen. Apti Alaudinov reposted photos of Russian special forces inside a natural gas pipeline on the social media platform Telegram.
During the Soviet era, the Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhgorod pipeline transported natural gas from western Siberia through Sudzha town to Ukraine. However, Ukraine halted all Russian natural gas transit through its territory starting from January 1.
(This article was adapted from Reuters reporting)