A Ukrainian serviceman patrols a street next to buildings damaged during recent fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces in the Ukrainian-controlled town of Sudzha in Russia's Kursk region in August 2024.(Reuters)
“The lid of the smoking cauldron is almost closed. The offensive continues,” the former Russian president wrote on Telegram.
According to Ukraine’s military and Russian war bloggers, Russian special forces
walked miles inside a gas pipeline to strike Ukrainian units from the rear in the Kursk region.
Moscow had used the pipeline until recently to send gas to Europe. According to the Associated Press, some Russian troops had spent several days in the pipe before striking Ukrainian units from the rear near the town of Sudzha.
Russian Telegram channels showed pictures of special forces in gas masks and lights, some using colourful Russian curses, along the inside of what looked like a large pipe, according to Reuters.
Ukraine Ukraine’s General Staff had also confirmed on Saturday that Russian “sabotage and assault groups” used the pipeline in a bid to gain a foothold outside the town of Sudzha.
“At present, Russian special forces are being detected, blocked and destroyed. The enemy’s losses in Sudzha are very high,” the General Staff had claimed.