Khartiia says underground operation “Veles” near Kupiansk went 15 km into the rear, with Russian losses of more than 100

The 2nd Corps of Ukraine's National Guard, Khartiia, reported on 22 October a counteroffensive operation called "Veles" in the Kupiansk direction of the Kharkiv region. According to the corps, defence forces moved more than 15 kilometres through underground utility networks into the rear of Russian forces.

The operation, the statement says, was carried out by a grouping under the corps' command. The Ukrainian outlet expert.in.ua, retelling the corps' statement, writes that the troops unexpectedly attacked Russian positions.

In its statement, the Khartiia brigade said its troops advanced 15 kilometres into the rear of the Russian army, moving through a network of underground utility lines. The corps' version speaks of underground communications and an advance of "more than 15 kilometres".

The underground route, according to Khartiia, was combined with ground attacks and drone strikes. The operation was named after Veles, the Slavic god of the underworld.

The Ukrainian outlet 057.ua calls "Veles" the world's first full-scale underground counteroffensive operation. That is the outlet's assessment, not the military command's.

According to Khartiia, Russian losses exceeded 100 people, and more than 30 servicemen were taken prisoner. In its own statement the brigade gave a different wording: about 100 killed and another 30 prisoners.

Ukrainian outlets citing the command give the same figures: "more than 30" prisoners and losses of "more than 100". The materials contain no confirmation from the Russian side, so for now this remains a claim by Ukrainian military.

The operation, Khartiia claims, helped break the positional deadlock in the Kupiansk direction. Russian forces, it says, lost the ability to get into Kupiansk's rear.

The corps commander, Brigadier General Ihor Obolensky, described how the idea came about. According to him, Ukrainian troops had watched the enemy operate underground. The Russians, he says, intended to use gas pipelines to infiltrate the rear of Ukrainian forces. The Ukrainian fighters then went underground themselves and mastered the tactics of underground warfare.

In the retelling of the corps' statement, it goes like this: Ukrainians studied the enemy's tactics and used them against him. The Ukrainian outlet Interfax-Ukraine adds, citing the corps, that alongside the underground advance units were also moving on the surface, so the enemy came under attack from two directions at once.

The outlet rayon.in.ua describes a route through underground utilities and tunnels and writes that the troops quietly emerged deep in the enemy's rear. This too is a retelling of the corps' statement.

According to the corps, the operation involved the Khartiia brigade, the R.U.G assault regiment, the "Lava" unmanned systems regiment and the "Achilles" unmanned systems brigade. Units of Ukraine's Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) also took part, including the "Freedom of Russia" Legion and the RDK, as well as other assault and drone units.

The Ukrainian outlets prm.ua and Ukrainska Pravda repeat the outcome of the operation: more than 15 kilometres underground in the rear of Russian forces and more than 30 prisoners. Both have the same source — the corps' statement.

The Ukrainian outlet 057.ua writes that by 2026 Ukrainian forces had almost halted the Russian advance in the Kharkiv direction.

A gas pipeline near Kupiansk had featured in reports before. In September 2025, according to non-state Belarusian outlets, Russian troops used an underground gas pipe to build up forces on the northern outskirts of the city. In December 2025 the same outlets wrote that Ukrainian forces had cut one of the routes by which Russian units were infiltrating Kupiansk — a gas pipeline.