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Ukrainian troops captured Russian assault soldiers who crawled through a trunk gas pipeline to reach the rear on the Orikhiv direction in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Ukraine’s Southern Defense Forces said. Some of the Russians surrendered after climbing out of the pipe. Border guards captured three more on the same day near Vovchansk in the northeast.
After pipeline infiltrations helped Russia recapture parts of its Kursk Oblast in 2025, Moscow continued using “pipeline warfare” in eastern and southeastern Ukraine. Russia has increasingly moved away from costly mass assaults — suicidal in the drone era — toward small-group infiltration tactics, sending teams of one to three soldiers to sneak through Ukrainian defense lines and gain ground in the rear.
Captured coming out of the pipe
Soldiers of the 65th Separate Mechanized Brigade took the group prisoner on the Orikhiv direction, Southern Defense Forces spokesman Vladyslav Voloshyn told Ukrinform. He said Ukraine had long known Russia planned to use the pipeline for logistics and to slip sabotage groups into the rear.
Gas pipeline view: Russian vehicle to move inside the pipes. Screenshot from the 65th Separate Mechanized Brigade’s video.
The Russians turned the pipe into a controlled system with posts, telephone lines, dugouts, and bypass tunnels around damaged sections, he said. The entrance sits on Russian-held ground, and the exits open near Ukrainian positions. Some of the men gave up voluntarily once they came out.
What the prisoners described
In a video released by the 65th Brigade, the captured soldiers described a pipe about a meter wide that they moved through on carts and a scooter, covering more than 13 kilometers. They said their command welded the pipe shut behind every group that went in, leaving no way back. Inside, there was no water, the air was foul, and they were given no gas masks.
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They said they had been sent forward as cannon fodder. Militarnyi reported that surrender leaflets lay scattered at the exit, and that bomber and FPV drones hit the group together with Ukrainian infantry.
“When the Baba Yaga (heavy Vampire drones, – Ed.) and the FPVs flew off, I heard the soldiers’ voices,” one captive said.
Another said Ukrainian soldiers treated them better than their own side had.
A section of Ukraine’s gas transport system map, showing pipelines through the Zaporizhzhia area toward Enerhodar, Vasylivka and Melitopol. Map: Institute of Advanced Technologies via Militarnyi
Russia has used pipelines like this before, and Ukraine’s drone units now watch the exits. In April, the 71st Separate Airmobile Brigade killed 29 Russians who tried to infiltrate through a gas pipe in Sumy Oblast. On 1 May, six more were destroyed in a field as they tried to approach Ukrainian positions through a pipe. Russian forces have run the same tactic at Avdiivka, near Sudzha in Kursk Oblast, and around Kupiansk.
Three more POWs near Vovchansk
On the Pivdenno-Slobozhanskyi direction near Vovchansk, border guards of the Forpost brigade captured three Russian soldiers. Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service released a video of the men on 17 May 2026. The brigade said Russian troops increasingly choose captivity over a hopeless fight, while its units keep holding their positions.
Three captured Russian soldiers near Vovchansk after their assault group surrendered in full, 17 May 2026. Photo: State Border Guard Service of Ukraine
The Orikhiv direction
The Orikhiv direction has stayed relatively quiet. Ukraine’s General Staff recorded no Russian offensive actions on the Oleksandrivka and Orikhiv directions on 16 May 2026, while Russian forces pressed the Huliaipole direction with 24 attacks, some aimed at reaching Orikhiv from the east. Voloshyn said Russian troops were massing personnel near Shcherbaky and Novoandriivka and stepping up air reconnaissance around Balabyne, Malokaterynivka, and Kushuhum. Ukrainian forces are counterattacking and restoring positions, including near Prymorske on the bank of the former Kakhovka reservoir. As of early April, about 500 people remained in Orikhiv, out of 14,100 recorded in 2021.
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Russian troops keep crawling through the pipelines. Ukraine’s drone units have every exit covered.
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