Russia Sends 16 Troops Through a 28-Kilometer Pipe—Only Four Survive

A 16-man Russian assault group spent three days traveling nearly 28 kilometers through an underground pipe toward Ukrainian positions, but only four survived the mission and were later captured by Ukrainian paratroopers.

Ukraine’s 71st Separate Airmobile Brigade said on August 15 that the Russian troops used an underground utility line to approach Ukrainian positions. According to testimony from one of the captured soldiers released by the brigade, some members of Russian assault units are recruited from prisons, signing military contracts to avoid lengthy sentences.

The group traveled approximately 27–28 kilometers inside a reinforced-concrete pipe around 1.5 meters in diameter. The soldiers spent three days underground and slept inside the pipe during the journey.

One of the prisoners said Russian commanders had told the troops they were being sent to reinforce a battalion and assured them that Ukrainian forces were not present in the forest near their destination.

After emerging from the pipe, the 16-man group came under Ukrainian fire. According to the 71st Brigade, only around eight soldiers managed to reach the forest. Four ultimately survived.

The surviving Russian troops were also left with limited food supplies and had to search for food themselves. According to the prisoner, Russian commanders did not immediately evacuate wounded soldiers and instead continued ordering the assault troops forward despite Ukrainian drone strikes.

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The remaining soldiers eventually encountered troops from Ukraine’s 71st Separate Airmobile Brigade and surrendered.

Following his capture, one of the Russian soldiers received medical assistance and urged other Russians not to sign military contracts to fight against Ukraine.

“I would not advise anyone to go to war. No amount of money is worth it, nor are any of the benefits they promise us… To die and go to someone else’s land—for what? For whom? Let them put me in prison. If they hadn’t let me come here, I would never come here again,” the prisoner said in footage released by the brigade.

The 71st Brigade said the footage was recorded with the prisoner’s consent and that its treatment and communication with prisoners of war were conducted in accordance with the Geneva Conventions.

In a separate operation reported on August 15, Ukrainian Special Operations Forces captured three Russian soldiers and killed another during a raid on Russian positions. Operators from the 6th Separate Special Operations Regiment also evacuated a fawn discovered in the combat zone, prompting the unit to dub the mission “Operation Bambi.”

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