Overview
- President Volodymyr Selenskyj on Wednesday described Operation Veles near Kupjansk as an underground advance that used the Soviet-era Shebelynka–Ostrohozk gas pipeline and said Ukrainian units pushed more than 15 km beneath the surface.
- Unit videos released earlier this month show soldiers and small ground robots moving through narrow pipeline conduits on rollboards, a method the 2nd Kartiia Corps says let them reach Russian rear positions.
- Ukrainian officials claim the operation neutralized over 100 Russian fighters and captured more than 30, but reporting notes those casualty and prisoner figures have not been independently verified.
- The pipeline system involved includes a roughly 120 cm main tube with parallel branches, a layout that sources say makes subterranean movement possible while raising major safety and legal risks for civilian energy infrastructure.
- Analysts and Ukrainian commanders say the move adapted a tactic previously seen from Russian forces and could force Moscow to reposition troops or change defensive patterns on the Kharkiv front.