Ukraine’s Defence Forces carried out the underground counter-offensive operation Veles on the Kupiansk front. The defenders advanced more than 15 kilometres through underground communications.
The formation under the command of the 2nd Corps of the National Guard of Ukraine, Khartiia, combined the underground advance with actions on the surface and drone strikes. As a result, the occupiers were denied the opportunity to get into Kupiansk’s rear, the corps said.
"We observed how the enemy operates underground. And we studied how they do it. The Russians intended to use gas pipelines to infiltrate behind our troops. Then we went underground ourselves. We anticipated the enemy’s actions and mastered the tactics of underground combat,” explained the concept by the commander of the Khartiia corps, Brigadier General Ihor Obolienskyi.
Gas pipelines run through Kharkiv region, and the enemy planned to use them to infiltrate the rear of the Defence Forces. But the defenders got there first.