Ukraine army defends Kupiansk against Russian troops infiltrating via Soviet-era gas pipelines

Ukrainian soldiers are engaged in a desperate fight to defend the strategic city of Kupiansk, using drones to hunt Russian troops emerging from abandoned Soviet-era gas pipelines. The soldiers describe the battle as a grim "whack-a-mole" game, with the lifespan of a Russian soldier emerging from a pipeline estimated at just ten minutes.

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The lifespan of a Russian soldier from the moment he surfaces from an underground pipe is, according to those hunting them, a maximum of one hour. But usually, it's ten minutes and that's it.

"Tovsti," a sergeant major in Ukraine's "Kartiia" Brigade, monitors real-time drone footage from a command post in the northeastern Kharkiv region. The scene is a constant replay of Russian soldiers exiting disused gas pipes to infiltrate Ukrainian defenses. In an era dominated by drones, where surface movement is nearly impossible, Russia has resorted to exploiting the extensive underground infrastructure to advance troops unseen from above.

The primary target of this infiltration is Kupiansk, a crucial rail and road hub just 40 kilometers from the Russian border. Occupied by Moscow early in the 2022 invasion and later liberated by Kyiv, the city remains a key objective for the Kremlin. Russian forces are using four abandoned gas pipelines that merge into two main lines under the Oskil River to reach the city.

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It's a whack-a-mole type of war.

The conditions inside these steel tubes, only 1 to 1.2 meters in diameter, are described as horrific. Russian soldiers must crawl 15 kilometers on their bellies to reach Ukrainian lines. Ukrainian commanders report that some groups spend months barricaded inside the pipelines, awaiting sufficient numbers and ammunition for an assault. "People die in there. They are simply thrown in, with weapons taped to their backs so they don't lose them," stated "Abat," the deputy commander of the Ukrainian brigade.

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People die in there. They are simply thrown in, with weapons taped to their backs so they don't lose them.