Ukraine launches first underground counterattack near Kupiansk

The Khartiia Corps of Ukraine's National Guard has carried out Operation Veles, an underground counterattack in northeastern Kharkiv region. Troops used hidden underground passages to bypass Russian positions, the corps' press service reports. The corps itself calls it the world's first underground counteroffensive operation.

The name refers to the pagan god of the underworld. According to the corps, the maneuver stopped Russian units from getting behind Ukrainian positions around Kupiansk. Besides 30 prisoners, Russian losses exceeded a hundred people, the Ukrainian outlet writes.

Corps commander Brigadier General Ihor Obolenskyi said the enemy had considered underground infrastructure its only tool for getting around Ukrainian defenses. Russian forces have indeed used pipes to slip behind Ukrainian lines: near Sudzha in March 2025 and near Kupiansk in September. According to Obolenskyi, Ukrainian troops studied that experience, outplayed the enemy on its own ground and turned the threat to their advantage.

The soldiers had to move through cramped spaces without GPS, daylight or reliable radio communication, and emerging on the surface meant going straight into combat in difficult conditions. Sappers and technicians prepared the underground route in advance, while the troops underwent serious physical and psychological training for fighting in confined spaces. Other specialists built navigation, communication and supply systems for them underground, the corps says.

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Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz