Russian Initiative to Attack Ukrainian Forces: Passing Through a Gas Pipeline

Russian special forces managed to attack Ukrainian troops from behind in the Kursk region by moving through a gas pipeline. This attack was reported by the Ukrainian army and Russian military bloggers. Moscow claims to have made new advances in its efforts to reclaim parts of the Kursk border region that Kyiv had captured in a surprise attack. Ukraine launched a bold offensive in August against Kursk, considered the largest attack on Russian territory since World War II. Within days, Ukrainian units managed to capture a thousand square kilometers of Russian territory and took hundreds of Russian soldiers captive. According to Kyiv, the aim of this operation was to gain leverage in potential peace negotiations and to compel Russia to redeploy its forces from the eastern front of Ukraine. However, months after Ukraine's rapid attack, relentless assaults from over 50,000 soldiers, including forces from North Korea, a Russian ally, have exhausted and damaged Ukrainian forces in Kursk. According to a report by the Associated Press on Sunday, March 10, open-source maps indicate that tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers are at risk of encirclement. According to Telegram posts published late Saturday by a Kremlin-supporting blogger born in Ukraine, Russian forces moved about 15 kilometers inside the gas pipeline, which Moscow has long used to send gas to Europe. According to this blogger named Yuri Podolyaka, some Russian troops spent several days inside the pipeline and then attacked Ukrainian units from behind near the strategic city of Sudzha. Before the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022, Sudzha had a population of about 5,000 and housed key gas transfer and measurement stations along this pipeline, which was once the main route for exporting Russian natural gas from Ukraine. Another Telegram channel run by a blogger using the pseudonym 'Two Colonels' also reported heavy fighting for the capture of Sudzha and stated that Russian forces had managed to enter this city, which is held by Ukrainian forces, through the pipeline. Russian Telegram channels have published images apparently showing Russian special forces wearing gas masks and moving inside a large pipeline. The General Staff of the Ukrainian Army confirmed on Saturday night that Russian 'destruction and assault' units had used this pipeline to stabilize their position around Sudzha. This staff stated in a Telegram post that Russian forces were 'timely identified' and Ukraine responded with rockets and artillery. The Russian Defense Ministry stated on Sunday that its forces had captured four villages in the north and northwest of Sudzha, the closest of which is about 12 kilometers from the city center. This claim was made a day after the announcement of the capture of three other villages near Sudzha. Ukraine has yet to respond to these Russian claims.