In March, as part of an offensive to retake territory in the Kursk region, Russian troops crawled through a section of a decommissioned gas pipeline in an effort to slip behind Ukrainian lines. The mission quickly became a patriotic spectacle in Russia — complete with a scale-model pipe installed in a church courtyard and a song called “Truba” (“Pipe”), with a chorus that goes: “Pipe — that’s a Russian word! / Pipe — that means trouble!” Be that as it may, pro-war commentators soon began discussing the ways in which the mission had gone terribly wrong. Now, in a newly published video, a soldier who allegedly took part in the operation describes how some men suffocated inside the pipeline, while others died by suicide. Here’s what we know about the video.

On July 7, the Telegram channel Severny Kanal published an 11-minute video titled The Pipe, about “Operation Stream.” In March 2025, as part of a major offensive in the Kursk region to retake territory held by Ukrainian forces since August 2024, Russian troops crawled through a branch of the decommissioned Urengoy–Pomary–Uzhhorod pipeline in an attempt to slip behind Ukrainian lines.

The video is framed as “the truth about the operation, told by the fighters who took part.” It consists largely of an interview with an unidentified man in camouflage, who claims to be one of the Russian soldiers involved. A few other soldiers briefly appear on camera, and the video also contains footage from inside the pipeline. It’s unclear how Severny Kanal obtained this material.

The independent investigative group Conflict Intelligence Team has previously linked Severny Kanal to Ukraine’s Center for Information and Psychological Operations, though the Telegram channel itself claims to represent the Russian military’s “Sever” contingent.

During the interview, the soldier says that some participants in the operation may have died from a lack of oxygen, while others “lost their minds” and took their own lives. According to him, some of the bodies were left behind in the pipeline because the survivors were physically unable to retrieve them.

“Getting a ‘Cargo 200’ [military slang for a body] out of the pipe — that’s a whole ordeal. There’s just no room in there. […] Some of the corpses are still lying there. […] The ones stuck in the rubble, I heard them yelling: ‘What’s going on? My legs gave out,’” he recounts. He also says the returning soldiers had to crawl past the bodies of their comrades.

“Even the [wounded] ones that were wheeled out on carts — [you know] they’re all gonna fucking die anyway. They breathed in too much methane,” the soldier continues. “When we were pulling [the bodies] out, most of them were older guys. But one was a young guy, 33. Seems like he got a lungful.”

The soldier then goes on to explain that the troops involved in the operation lacked sufficient food and water. According to him, the water was taken by fighters from the Akhmat unit and by those positioned closer to the pipeline’s entrance. During the operation, trash piled up inside the pipeline, and as the soldiers tried to get out, they abandoned their weapons and gear.

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The Telegram channel Astra identified the main soldier in the video as Igor Garus, a resident of St. Petersburg. He declined to name his unit but confirmed the statements he made in the interview. “Everything in the video is true. I can’t comment further — I’m just a regular soldier. It’s up to the Defense Ministry to comment and issue statements. That was a private conversation, not an appeal. I’m sure they’ll fix everything, we’ll pull through. We’re waiting for victory,” Garus told Astra.

Garus said the conversation featured in the video was never intended for public release. He also claimed he doesn’t know how the footage ended up online. At the end of the video, however, a voice off-camera tells him: “Smile, you’re a star now.”

Reports of soldiers suffocating during “Operation Stream” had previously surfaced on Russian pro-war blogs. Self-styled war correspondent Vladimir Romanov blamed the deaths on poor planning, citing a lack of ventilation, drainage, water, food, and communications. Russian propagandist Anastasia Kashevarova wrote that the troops had been poisoned by methane. In June, she claimed that participants were dying from “lung damage,” including cases of lung cancer and pulmonary embolism.

Meduza reviewed Kashevarova’s claims and concluded that some of her explanations for the soldiers’ deaths appear partially plausible. However, her assertion that soldiers had developed lung cancer specifically as a result of being in the pipeline could not be verified and appears highly doubtful.

More on the operation

• Russian troops reportedly spent days crawling through gas pipeline to slip behind Ukrainian lines in Kursk region