Russian troops reportedly spent days crawling through gas pipeline to slip behind Ukrainian lines in Kursk region
On Saturday, reports emerged that Russian troops had taken an unusual approach to trying to get behind Ukrainian lines in Russia’s Kursk region — crawling through a defunct section of a pipeline that once carried Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine. Soon after, the Ukrainian side confirmed the attack but said its forces had detected the movement “in time” and launched strikes as Russian troops tried to emerge. While many pro-Russian outlets have portrayed the ongoing offensive near Sudzha as a success, some pro-war bloggers and propagandists have criticized the pipeline strategy as poorly planned. Here’s what we know so far about this unusual raid.
Russian forces crawled through a gas pipeline in an attempt to ambush Ukrainian troops near the Ukrainian-held city of Sudzha in Russia’s Kursk region. They used a branch of the Urengoy–Pomary–Uzhhorod pipeline, which has been out of operation since January 1, 2025, to slip behind Ukrainian lines. Reports of the operation quickly spread across Russian pro-war Telegram channels. On the evening of March 8, Ukraine’s General Staff confirmed the raid.
According to Russian war bloggers and propagandists, a unit of up to 100 soldiers traveled nearly 16 kilometers (about 10 miles) through an underground gas pipe measuring 1.4 meters (about four and a half feet) in diameter. The troops reportedly crawled through the pipe for two days and then waited inside for four more before emerging.
The raid was allegedly carried out by fighters from the Veterans private military company (PMC), the Akhmat special forces unit, and Russia’s 30th Motorized Rifle Regiment. The Veterans PMC had previously used a similar tactic in January 2024 during an assault on the southern outskirts of Avdiivka in Ukraine’s Donetsk region.
Reactions among Russian pro-war commentators were mixed. Self-styled “war correspondent” Vladimir Romanov and propagandist Anastasia Kashevarova criticized the operation as poorly planned, citing a lack of water, supplies, and ventilation. According to their accounts, several soldiers died underground from methane poisoning. Meanwhile, Russian serviceman and pro-war blogger Yegor Guzenko argued that the premature publication of photos and videos showing soldiers crawling through the pipe had tipped off the Ukrainian side and that forces would have needed an additional week to secure a foothold.
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The Ukrainian military said they weren’t caught off guard by the underground raid. According to Ukraine’s General Staff, reconnaissance units from the Air Assault Forces detected the Russian troops “in time,” allowing Ukrainian forces to target them with missile and artillery strikes.
The Ukrainian military released a video purportedly showing strikes on Russian positions at a railway crossing along the pipeline, about two kilometers (just over a mile) northeast of Sudzha. “At present, Russian special forces are being located, blocked, and destroyed. Enemy losses near Sudzha are very high,” Ukraine’s General Staff said.
However, Russian pro-government media offered a different version of events. According to the Telegram channel Shot, Russian forces are advancing on Sudzha from multiple directions. On the morning of March 9, Russian troops reportedly cleared the villages of Cherkasskoye Porechnoye and Kositsa, while fighting was ongoing in Martynovka and Malaya Loknya. Russian forces also claimed to have retaken Lebedevka, a village 10 kilometers (about six miles) from Sudzha.
Russia’s Defense Ministry has not commented on the underground raid or the reported offensive near Sudzha.
