Russian special forces walked inside a gas pipeline to strike Ukrainian units from the rear in the Kursk region, Ukraine’s military and Russian war bloggers reported, as Moscow moves to recapture parts of its border province that Kyiv seized in a shock offensive.

Ukraine's armed forces shared footage late on Saturday that it said showed its soldiers attacking elite Russian forces "moving along a gas pipeline branch in an atttempt to gain a foothold" near Sudzha, about 6 miles from the Ukrainian border.

Russia was storming the town of Sudzha on Sunday after special forces used a gas pipeline to surprise Ukrainian units as part of a major offensive to eject Ukrainian soldiers from the western Russian region of Kursk,