SHOCKING footage shows Russian troops crouching miles inside a disused gas pipe “to penetrate Ukrainian lines in Kursk” before being massacred.
The unarmed soldiers of Vladimir Putin cursed their commanders for confiscating their rifles and sending them on a risky mission that left them defenseless against Ukrainian forces.
Approximately 100 troops were observed crouching as they walked through a five-foot diameter pipe to reach the town of Sudzha in Kursk on Saturday.
While the Russian special forces took a break inside the pipeline, smoking cigarettes and eating, one soldier expressed frustration, saying, “We will reach there for sure, but we are extremely fed up with the commanding officers, for heaven’s sake.”
A voice says: “Sending us out on stupid ****ing missions…
“They took our ****ing assault rifles, too.”
A Putin soldier complained: “We’ve walked a kilometre, we’re already ****ed up.”
Another appeared to mock their commanders saying, “It’s all right, I’m going on a mission, it’s safe, it’s clear.
“It’s 12 kilometres to Sudzha by pipe, but it’s okay.”
The Russians’ bungled plot seems lifted right out of a James Bond movie – with 007 using a gas pipeline to sneak a defector out of the Soviet Union in 1987 hit The Living Daylights.
The outcome of the mission has been hotly disputed by both sides of the conflict, with Kyiv claiming to have wiped out 80 per cent of the underground troops.
Zelensky’s troops ambushed the Russians as they broke through behind enemy lines, emerging from the pipeline, Ukraine has claimed.
The Ukrainian general staff said in an official statement: “The enemy’s losses [from the gas pipeline incursion] are very high.”
Russian “combined sabotage and assault groups” penetrated towards Sudzha through a gas pipeline previously used to transport gas to Europe – with the goal of gaining “a foothold on the outskirts” of the town.
But they were “detected in a timely manner” and subjected to “missile and artillery strikes” as well as drone attacks, he said.
“Russian special forces are being identified, blocked and destroyed.
“The enemy’s losses in the Sudzha area are very high.”
Ukrainian forces released a video showing its Airborne Assault Troops dropping bombs on the forces that had infiltrated the pipeline.
Myroslav Hai, the officer of Ukraine’s 1st Separate Bohun Special Forces Brigade said: “Ukrainian paratroopers destroyed a large group of saboteurs.
“The command of one of the airborne assault brigades skilfully used previously gathered intelligence on Russia’s plans to use underground pipeline routes for sabotage in the Sudzhanskyi district.
“The Russians attempted to replicate the tactics used in the Avdiivka operation, leveraging engineering structures to infiltrate Ukrainian territory.”
HEAVY LOSSES
An account of the operation by Romanov Light Telegram claimed that Russian special forces took a week to complete the mission, with two days of crouch walking and four days of lying in wait.
As some Russian sources claim the operation was a complete success, others say that there were “heavy casualties” and that all of the troops suffered poisoning from the pipeline.
They were “poisoned by methane, and left with a minimum of food and water” the Romanov Light Telegram claimed.
“The enemy was taken by surprise [and] the Ukrainian Armed Forces began dropping cluster munition onto the pipe about 30 minutes [later].”
Putin’s forces allegedly stunned Ukrainians by appearing behind their frontline, sending them fleeing, abandoning their positions and vehicles.
The report called the Russian troops “real warriors” who were all poisoned” but “accomplished their mission” despite suffering losses.
Other Russian sources say that Operation Pipeline was a complete success and that many of the men returned triumphant while putting doubt on the Ukrainian footage of them foiling the plot.
One pre-war Russian Telegram channel said: “The Ukrainians write that [our troops] supposedly all suffocated and were [hit] by artillery.
“Then how did they put the [pipeline] videos online today?”
The footage first appeared on Russian pro-war channels.
While Russia has not yet officially commented, a Telegram source said: “Yes, there was an impact, but [our troops] are in touch and continue to blow holes in enemy defences where they don’t expect.
“About 80% killed and 20% retreating: a blatant lie.
“Then why are the [Ukrainian] formations retreating in columns?”
Pictures purported to show Russian troops after returning from the mission.
There has been no independent verification of these claims and the intense fighting comes as Putin continues to ignore a Donald Trump demand for Russia to stop “pounding” Ukraine amid imminent peace talks.
But all eyes continue to be on the Kursk region amid increasing concern that Ukraine cannot hold its land-grab where it has 10,000 troops in danger of being encircled.
Ukraine’s incursion into Putin’s Kursk region last August represented the most serious attack on Russian territory since the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941.
Just one week into the incursion, Kyiv claimed to have captured a formidable 1,000 square kilometres of Russian soil – more than what Putin was able to seize in the past year.
Now, swathes of Russian and North Korean troops have been deployed to win back Sudzha and the surrounding area before any peace deal is inked.
Next week in Saudi Arabia, senior Ukrainian and US officials will discuss plans for a partial truce as well as a large-scale prisoner exchange between Kyiv and Moscow.
Separately, Russia has continued to pummel Ukrainian energy facilities, exploding a gas plant in a Kyiv-controlled part of Zaporizhzhia region.
Footage shows the raging fires that burned in the region throughout the night.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian drones struck several regions of Russia, targeting a key oil refinery in Ryazan.
Other strikes were in Lipetsk and Cheboksary.
It came after more devastation on Friday, when at least 21 Ukrainians were killed by Russian strikes in another overnight blitz in the Donetsk region.
President Zelensky accused Vladimir Putin of using “vile and inhumane tactics”, intentionally targeting emergency services who arrived at the scene of the first strike with a second missile.
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