Russian victory or a massacre? What really happened in the Kursk pipeline

Yahoo

08-04-2025

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For two days, the oxygen-starved Russian troops crawled nine miles through a pitch-black underground pipeline, creeping behind enemy lines and springing a surprise attack which wiped out the enemy in a blaze of bullets.
The Ukrainian soldiers had no idea that Operation Potok was coming.
Hundreds of men streamed out, storming Ukrainian positions north of Sudzha, pushing them back out of Russia in a triumphant counter-offensive to save the motherland.
It was Russia's elite forces who 'burst out unexpectedly, like demons – black, dirty, and exhausted' according to a soldier with the call sign 'Mowgli'.
The 'soldiers from the pipe' became the stuff of legend and those who returned were welcomed home as war heroes.
'Blow up all your pipes out of fear... we'll still come to you from under the ground,' goes a new song about the mission, first performed outside a church in central Russia, where a 50ft replica had been installed for people to admire.
The story, that Ukraine's military told was completely different, however. The raid, they said, became a massacre – the Russians that took part were not heroes, but victims of Russia's poor and careless military planning. And they saw them coming.
The truth, according to analysts, military bloggers and those involved, is more nuanced.
Last August, Ukraine launched a surprise invasion into Russia's western border region of Kursk, marking the first foreign invasion of Russian soil since the Second World War.
Kyiv's bridgehead inside Russia, it hoped, would be a key bargaining chip heading into any talks over the end of the war.
But Moscow's forces slowly chipped away at the roughly 500 square miles it seized, throwing tens of thousands of Russians and North Koreans into brutal assaults to take it back.
By the start of March, Kyiv had lost over 64 per cent of its Kursk salient. The Russian counter-offensive was advancing fast, operating a double pincer movement that threatened to cut off key supply routes to Sudzha, while Ukraine was retreating west.
Then, on March 5, Washington cut intelligence sharing, a vital component of Kyiv's ability to track enemy movements.
Kremlin officials warned they would take advantage of the information blackout – which lasted until March 11 – to 'inflict maximum damage'. Analysts say it helped contribute to Russia's sudden successes in Kursk after months of grinding advances.
Operation Potok (Operation Stream) took place within that time-frame.
What happened inside the pipe?
Describing the details of the operation, a Russian commander, who uses the call sign 'Zombie', said the preparations took three weeks. Other Russian accounts say construction started in January.
'We had to pump the gas out, pump the oxygen in, build extra exits to the surface, transport the ammunition, food, water, military personnel.' All of this, 'Zombie' claimed, was carried out without Ukrainian forces noticing. 'The enemy did not see us.'
He claims 800 troops were sent into the pipeline, while the Kremlin puts the figure at 600. There is no visual evidence that suggests a force of that size.
Once the troops were inside the 55in-diameter pipeline – which two months before was transporting Siberian gas to Europe – the conditions were brutal.
Moving in complete darkness, troops complained of no oxygen, heavy fumes, and freezing cold temperatures.
A soldier with the call sign 'Medve' said: 'There was panic because of the tight space, the darkness. 'When we went into that pipe, it was scary, it was tough, but what can you do? We had to do the task that we were assigned to,' he said.
It was later emerged many of the Russians suffered severe chemical burns to their lungs from inhaling fumes, including high quantities of methane, in the cramped pipe. Scans showed clogged and hugely inflated lungs.
Their symptoms increased 'like an avalanche', turning into 'pneumonia and respiratory failure,' Vadim – call sign 'Torero' (bullfighter) – a doctor in Russia's Akhmat special forces unit told Pravda.ru. 'This is the first time we've seen this. First time in the world, really,' another medic said.
There has been no official comment from Russia on the casualties of the operation. Unverified videos inside the pipe show what appear to be bodies stacked on top of one another.
What happened outside?
The raid, according to Russian media, was based on a similar attack in January 2024, when a sewage pipe was used to try and encircle a Ukrainian unit near the battered Donetsk city of Avdiivka.
Like on March 8, Russia claimed the infiltration as a success, Kyiv said it was quickly stopped.
'We burst out unexpectedly, like demons – black, dirty, and exhausted. But we pressed on,' a soldier who goes by 'Mowgli' told the Kremlin-backed RT channel.
Galery Gerasimov, Russia's military chief, reported that 600 troops burst from the pipe and 'surprised the enemy, contributing to the collapse of its defences and the development of our offensive'.
Ukrainian analysts estimate only a hundred Russians left the pipe.
By the evening of March 8, Ukraine's general staff confirmed the 'attempted' raid, but said the enemy troops had been spotted inside the pipe by aerial reconnaissance units 'in a timely manner'.
Once the soot-faced troops emerged, they were 'detected, blocked and destroyed' in cluster strikes. 'The enemy's losses in Sudzha are very high,' it added.
Ukrainian military bloggers described it as a bloodbath and claimed 'hundreds' had already suffocated or been poisoned by fumes in the pipeline.
Ukraine's military declined to discuss any further details with The Telegraph due to the 'ongoing hostilities' in the Kursk region.
Footage, taken by Ukrainian drones, show groups of Russian infantry emerging from pipeline exits, suggesting that the enemy manoeuvre had been anticipated.
Ukraine's air assault forces posted footage of missile and artillery strikes targeting small clusters of Russians forces after they exited the pipe north of Sudzha, which was verified by open-source analysts.
'The Russian forces did not achieve a surprise [attack] as the drones were waiting, but at the same time Ukraine didn't have troops in position to stop them and relied on drones and artillery,' analysts at UAcontrolmap told The Telegraph.
Myroslav Hai, a Ukrainian armed forces officer, claimed 80 per cent of the Russian forces in the pipe were killed in Ukraine's 'well organised' counter-ambush.
'At the critical moment, we blocked the exit, preventing any escape. The group was then destroyed.' He reported Russian forces were heard complaining in radio intercepts 'they were thrown to a sure death'.
Yuriy Butusov, a Ukrainian war correspondent, was more conservative in assessment. He claimed Russian troops had managed to move through the pipeline 'unnoticed' and drove a 'wedge into our battle formations'.
'The enemy is now being eliminated,' he added on the evening of March 8.
It raises the question whether Ukraine may have been more prepared if the US hasn't cut off intelligence.
On March 9, the Russian military claimed to have recaptured three settlements, Malaya Lokhnya, Cherkasskoye Porechnoye and Kositsa, all north of Sudzha. 'The lid of the smoking cauldron is almost closed,' Dmitry Medvedev, former Russian president, said on Telegram. 'The offensive continues.'
The same day, the Institute for the Study of War reported that Russian forces 'collapsing' the northern part of Ukraine's Kursk salient and advancing into northeastern Sudzha.
On March 13, Russia claimed to have retaken Sudzha. Three days later, Ukraine quietly confirmed its troops had completely withdrawn from the key logistics hub.
Kyiv's troops now occupy a sliver of high ground close to the Ukraine border, where fierce fights are ongoing.
'The dramatic shift in the situation on the front can be attributed to the success of Russia's top-secret Operation Potok,' RT reported on March 11 after the details of the operation were released.
But analysts say the operation was unlikely to have made a genuine contribution to Ukraine's retreat in Kursk.
The analysts at UAcontrolmap said Kyiv's forces were 'already well on their way to pulling out' of villages close to Sudzha that Russia claimed following the ambush.
Ivan Stupak, a military expert and former Ukrainian security service officer, agreed, saying Kyiv was already on the retreat 'due to a cocktail of factors', with the US intelligence blackout being just one of many.
'The situation had been tough, Ukraine's troops were exhausted, had limited resources, had taken heavy casualties, and were highly outnumbered,' he told The Telegraph. 'The loss of intelligence is only part of the equation'.
He estimated 'hundreds' of Russians died as a result of the pipeline mission.
'It was a biblical story where [Russian] soldiers exited from beneath the earth and saved the motherland,' said Ksenia Luchenko, an independent Russian journalist, on Telegram.
In the end, it was just a 'plotline, a myth that heroises the Russian army'.
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