Around 100 Russian soldiers crawled inside of a narrow gas pipe in a bid to get Ukrainian troops out of the Kursk region in Russia.

Ukrainian forces have controlled a small portion of the Kursk region since launching a surprise offensive last summer.

Putin’s troops snuck through the 4.5-foot wide pipe, some of them suffering from reported methane poisoning, to ‘surprise’ the Ukrainian soldiers at the other end.

But reports say an estimated 80% of the Russian soldiers were killed in the process.

The Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhgorod and Progress gas pipelines are designed to transport Russian gas via Ukraine to Europe – but Kyiv cut supplies this year.

Ukrainian war reporter Yuriy Butusov said: ‘The Russians used a gas pipeline to transfer an assault company unnoticed by drones, and wedged into our battle formations.

‘The pipe has been put under increased surveillance, the area of concentration of attack aircraft has been identified, the enemy is being eliminated.’

Ukraine has some 10,000 troops inside the Kursk region with Russia deploying its own and North Korean firepower to get them out.

Myroslav Hai, the officer of Ukraine’s 1st Separate Bohun Special Forces Brigade said Ukraine had been tipped off about the pipeline assault.

A Russian Telegram channel said there were heavy casualties among troops sent through the pipeline, but claimed Ukrainians were also badly hit.

‘The entire operation took a week: they walked for two days, sat in the pipe for four days [waiting and taking a break].

‘Poisoned by methane, and left with a minimum of food and water, our soldiers went behind enemy lines and struck,’ they reported.

The town of Sudzha, in Kursk, has been under Ukrainian control since July last year.

Residents previously complained to Putin: ‘Foreign troops with NATO equipment entered our land.’

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