Russian Special Forces Attack Ukrainians In Kursk Via Gas Pipeline

Russian special forces crept miles through a major gas pipeline near the town of Sudzha in an attempt to surprise Ukrainian forces as part of a large-scale offensive to expel Ukrainian soldiers from the western Russian region of Kursk, pro-Russian war bloggers claimed, Guy Faulconbridge reported for Reuters.

Russian gains in 2024, coupled with U.S. President Donald Trump’s shift in U.S. policy on Ukraine and Russia, have raised concerns among European leaders that Ukraine could lose the war.

Thousands of Ukrainian soldiers seized approximately 1,300 square kilometers of Russia's Kursk region in August last year, in what Kyiv described as an effort to gain leverage in future negotiations and force Russia to divert troops from eastern Ukraine.

In recent days, Russia has been pressing the attack with some success, with open-source maps on Friday indicating that Kyiv’s contingent in Kursk is nearly surrounded following rapid Russian advances.

Russian gains in 2024, coupled with U.S. President Donald Trump’s shift in U.S. policy on Ukraine and Russia, have raised concerns among European leaders that Ukraine could lose the war and that Trump is abandoning European allies.

In its daily update on the situation in Kursk, Russia's Defense Ministry reported that its forces had retaken the village of Lebedevka and had also seized Novenke, a hamlet across the border in Ukraine’s neighboring Sumy region.