MOSCOW, August 7. /TASS/. Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Alexander Syrsky has admitted that the Ukrainian army did not expect Russian troops to take bold actions such as their Operation Pipeline in the Kursk Region.
Operation Pipeline involved a joint assault unit comprising soldiers from the 11th Separate Guards Air Assault Brigade, the 30th Regiment of the 72nd Motorized Rifle Division, the Akhmat special forces unit, and volunteers from the Veterans and Vostok V assault brigades. The troops moved stealthily through a gas pipeline, about 15 kilometers, and emerged deep within Ukrainian defenses near the town of Sudzha, catching enemy forces off guard. The Russian operation involved over 600 service members. According to Army General Valery Gerasimov, chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces and first deputy defense minister, the assault team’s bravery helped the Russian army step up its offensive in the Kursk Region.
"We had intelligence that they might use gas pipelines. Our forces were ordered to take those under control and monitor the areas where enemy soldiers could come to the surface. Still, we must have missed something out, or, perhaps, we did not expect them to be that bold," Syrsky said in an interview with Ukraine’s TSN TV channel. The top commander admitted that the Russian army’s operation had made it more complicated for Ukrainian forces to retreat from the Kursk Region.
On August 6, 2024, Russia’s borderline Kursk Region came under a massive attack from Ukraine. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Kiev lost more than 76,500 troops in the Kursk area. The Russian military's operation to destroy invading Ukrainian forces lasted 264 days. On April 26, 2025, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Army General Valery Gerasimov reported to President Vladimir Putin that the operation to liberate the Kursk Region was over.