28 Days in an underground pipe (to launch an attack on Russian positions)

In summer 2024, soldiers of Ukraine’s 107th Territorial Defense Brigade spent 28 days preparing a covert route toward Russian positions near Krasnohorivka, on the Pokrovsk axis. They adapted a 1.3-meter-wide irrigation pipe exposed by shelling, digging about 40 meters of passage and creating two exits. The plan was to emerge between enemy positions and launch a surprise attack. The work, initially expected to take ten days, stretched to nearly a month because the soil was extremely hard. Soldiers broke it up with shovels, pickaxes and a demolition hammer, then hauled it away in sacks and a homemade cart.

The cramped tunnel brought severe back pain, dust, stale air and the risk of collapse; some soldiers needed injections to keep working. Russian drones and shelling made trips outside dangerous, and a gas grenade was dropped near an entrance, though airflow kept the gas from reaching them. The men reinforced the passage, camouflaged the exits, posted guards and prepared defenses. They also had to rescue a comrade who collapsed from exhaustion. Supplies - including tools, food and even Coca-Cola - reached them through a chain of handoffs, while charging phones and maintaining light required risky trips to a nearby dugout. Dark humor helped the soldiers endure the isolation and physical strain as they worked to make the concealed approach usable.