Russian special forces crept kilometers through a major gas pipeline near the town of Sudzha in an attempt to surprise Ukrainian forces as part of a major offensive to eject Ukrainian soldiers from the western Russian region of Kursk, pro-Russian war bloggers said.
Thousands of Ukrainian soldiers seized about 1,300km2 of Russia’s Kursk region in August last year in what Kyiv said was an attempt to gain a bargaining chip in potential negotiations and to force Russia to shift forces from eastern Ukraine.
Russia has been pressing the attack with some success in the past few days, with open source maps on Friday showing Kyiv’s contingent in Kursk nearly surrounded after rapid Russian advances.
Photo: Reuters
Russian advances last year, and US President Donald Trump’s upending of Washington’s policy on Kyiv and Moscow have caused fears among European leaders that Ukraine would lose the war and that Trump is turning his back on Europe.
The US paused military aid and the sharing of intelligence with Ukraine this month after a meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Feb. 28 descended into acrimony in front of the world’s media.
In its daily update on the situation in Kursk, the Russian Ministry of Defense yesterday said its forces had retaken the village of Lebedevka, as well as Novenke, a hamlet across the border in Ukraine’s neighboring Sumy region.
Yuri Podolyaka, a Ukrainian-born, pro-Russian military blogger, said Russian special forces had walked kilometers along the inside of the major gas pipeline and some had spent several days in the pipe before surprising Ukrainian forces from the rear near Sudzha.
Sudzha is the home of major gas transfer and measuring stations on a pipeline that used to carry Russian natural gas into the Ukrainian gas transmission system for onward transportation to Europe.
Pro-Russian war blogger Two Majors said a major battle was under way for Sudzha and that Russian forces had surprised Ukrainian soldiers by entering the area via a major gas pipeline.
Russian Telegram channels showed pictures of special forces wearing gas masks and lights, some using colorful Russian curses, along the inside of what looked like a large pipe.
A statement from Ukraine’s general staff said that Russian soldiers had used the gas pipeline in an attempt to gain a foothold, but airborne assault forces promptly detected them and responded with rocket, artillery and drone attacks that were destroying the Russian units.
Meanwhile, Ukraine yesterday said Russia launched more than 100 drones overnight, targeting the capital and several regions.
The wave of attacks followed deadly strikes Friday and Saturday in eastern and northeastern Ukraine that killed at least 14 people.
Additional reporting by AFP
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