Russian special forces allegedly attack Ukrainian forces in Kursk through gas pipeline, bloggers claim.

Russian Special Forces Use Gas Pipeline to Launch Surprise Attack on Ukrainian Forces in Kursk, Say Pro-Russian Bloggers

Russian special forces allegedly traversed miles inside a major gas pipeline near the town of Sudzha in an effort to ambush Ukrainian forces, as part of a broader offensive aimed at expelling Ukrainian troops from Russia’s western Kursk region, according to pro-Russian war bloggers.

In August last year, thousands of Ukrainian soldiers seized approximately 1,300 square kilometers of Russia’s Kursk region. Kyiv described the move as a strategic maneuver to gain leverage in future negotiations and force Russia to divert forces from eastern Ukraine.

In recent days, Russia has intensified its counteroffensive, reportedly making significant territorial gains. Open-source battlefield maps on Friday indicated that Ukrainian forces in Kursk were nearly encircled following rapid Russian advances. Russia’s military progress in 2024, coupled with U.S. President Donald Trump’s abrupt shift in policy toward Ukraine and Russia, has sparked concern among European leaders that Ukraine could lose the war, with Trump appearing to distance the U.S. from European security commitments.

Tensions escalated further this month when the United States paused military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine. The decision followed a contentious Feb. 28 meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which reportedly ended in acrimony in front of the global media.

In its latest battlefield update, Russia’s Defense Ministry announced the recapture of the village of Lebedevka in Kursk, as well as the seizure of Novenke, a small settlement across the border in Ukraine’s Sumy region.

Pro-Russian military blogger Yuri Podolyaka claimed that Russian special forces had advanced through the interior of a major gas pipeline, with some operatives spending days inside before launching a surprise attack on Ukrainian troops from behind near Sudzha.

Sudzha, a key transit hub for gas pipelines that once carried Russian natural gas into Ukraine for European distribution, has become a focal point of the battle. Another pro-Russian war blogger, known as Two Majors, reported that heavy fighting was underway in Sudzha, with Russian troops using the gas pipeline as an entry route.

Images shared on Russian Telegram channels purportedly show special forces navigating the pipeline in gas masks, illuminated by flashlight beams, with some soldiers cursing in colorful Russian slang.

Ukraine’s General Staff confirmed that Russian forces had attempted to use the gas pipeline to secure a foothold but stated that airborne assault units swiftly detected them. Ukrainian troops reportedly responded with rocket, artillery, and drone strikes, inflicting heavy losses on the Russian units.

Due to battlefield reporting restrictions on both sides, Reuters has been unable to verify these claims.

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has triggered the most severe confrontation between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Both the Kremlin and the White House have warned that miscalculations could escalate the conflict into a global war.

Meanwhile, in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region—where Russian forces have made incremental gains in grinding battles across the country’s former industrial heartland—Moscow announced on Sunday that its troops had captured the village of Konstyantynopil.

Ukraine’s incursion into Kursk last August was the most significant assault on Russian territory since Nazi Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941.

"Fighting continued throughout the night in Sudzha," Podolyaka reported, claiming that parts of the town were now under Russian control. Another war blogger, Yuri Kotenok, suggested that Ukrainian forces were relocating equipment closer to the border.

"Our units are advancing in the northeastern part of Sudzha, engaging in combat around Lomonosov Street and the town’s industrial zone," Kotenok stated.

The Soviet-era Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhgorod pipeline, which historically transported Russian gas from western Siberia through Sudzha into Ukraine, ceased operations on January 1 after Ukraine terminated all Russian gas transit through its territory.