Ukrainian soldiers crept through underground gas pipelines to outflank the Russians in Kyiv’s latest plan to target Vladimir Putin’s forces.
President Volodymyr Zelensky revealed details of Operation Veles, conducted near Kupiansk, a city in the northeastern Kharkiv region recaptured by Ukrainian forces in late 2022, which has since remained under constant Russian pressure.
“It is a strong operation, well planned and technology-driven,” he said. “The Russians tried to use underground gas pipelines to advance past our positions. Our fighters turned this tactic against the Russians and used the underground infrastructure against the occupiers with extraordinary success.”
Soldiers trekked through nine miles of narrow, muddy underground pipelines into Kupiansk. When they reached the other end, Ukraine said they were able to eliminate 100 Russian troops and took more than 30 as prisoners.
“This is effectively our third landmark operation this year,” Zelensky said, referring to a number of audacious operations Ukraine has undertaken this year in a pursuit to reclaim territory.
Airborne assault forces conducted an operation in the Oleksandrivka area, spanning parts of the Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions, which liberated more than 800 square kilometres, according to the president.
The second, Operation Vivaldi, saw Ukrainian forces liberate more than 200 square kilometres in areas of Donetsk where Russian troops had launched repeated assaults.
He said that Operation Veles “strengthens our positions and shows the Russians that they are failing to achieve the results their political leadership set for them in the Kupiansk area as well.”
Russians had already attempted to use the underground gas pipelines to move through Ukraine’s positions and launch assault operations, Zelensky added, but Ukrainian soldiers had “successfully transformed this tactic.”
“We are protecting the lives of our people, inflicting losses on the occupiers, and achieving our objectives in the Kupiansk sector,” he said.
The chief of Russia's General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, said this month that Moscow's forces had captured 92 Ukrainian settlements, including the town of Dobropillia, since the beginning of September, a claim dismissed by Ukraine's military.
Efforts to resume peace talks between the two sides and the US, meanwhile, continue.
Zelensky said on Wednesday he hoped a trilateral meeting between peace negotiators from Ukraine, Russia and the United States would take place in Abu Dhabi between November 6 and November 10.
Ukraine’s leader said he wanted Europe to be involved in the talks on how to end the war, adding that unity and stronger pressure on Russia were needed.
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