Desperate Ukrainian soldiers have gone underground, adopting the same bold tactics Russia has used against them.
Military expert Vitaly Kiselev said Ukrainian troops have been intimidated by Russian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and they have shifted all movements in Volchansk underground.
Kiselev said the tactic mirrors a strategy that Russia pulled off in Sudzha.
In September, Russian troops were found attempting to infiltrate battle lines in Kharkiv by crawling through an underground pipe.
Ukrainian troops tried to stop them by flooding or fortifying such ducts.
Observers publicly identified the pipeline tactic in Kupiansk, a city in the Kharkiv region that has seen heavy fighting along the front lines.
That was the third time that Russians were found crawling or walking in gas or water pipes to avoid detection.
Sources Confirm Russia Using Underground Tactic
DeepState, an oft-cited Ukrainian open-source intelligence group, said Russian troops had used a gas pipe near Kupiansk to sneak past the nearby Oskil River and establish supply lines and drone pilot positions closer to the city.
The General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces confirmed these reports, stating that Russian troops had used a pipeline to move troops near Kupiansk, though it said that the city is still under Ukrainian control.
It wrote that the pipe’s exit was not located in the city itself, and Ukrainian forces had flooded several such passageways.
It should be noted that there are several pipelines in the Kupiansk area. Three of the four lines have already been damaged and flooded, and the exit of the fourth is under the control of the defense forces.
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Ukraine Realizes Russia’s Underground Technique
In October 2023, Ukraine claimed that Russian forces had resorted to underground tunnels to gain inroads on the frontline and seize more territory.
Anton Kotsukon, a spokesman for Kyiv’s 110th Separate Mechanized Brigade, said Russian troops were digging tunnels for camouflage.
“People often compare our war to World War I. In the Avdiivka sector, [Moscow’s troops] have begun to use such tactics,” Kotsukon said, referring to the strategy of digging tunnels used since Roman times.
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In January 2021, Russian troops used an abandoned underground drainage pipe (or other subterranean infrastructure) near Avdiivka to infiltrate Ukrainian fortifications.
They cleared the passage, traveled through it, and emerged behind Ukrainian defensive lines for surprise attacks.
Similarly, in March 2025, Russian special assault/sabotage groups entered a gas pipeline and attempted infiltration of Ukrainian positions near Sudzha.
They used an unused 1.4-m-wide pipeline, moving through it to approach from the rear, although their forces were detected and heavily counterattacked.
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