President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that Ukrainian forces were retaking territory through a series of offensives, including a previously unannounced operation in which, he said, Kyiv's troops used gas pipelines to outflank Russian positions. Zelensky, speaking in his nightly video address and citing a report by senior commanders, said Kyiv's battlefield position was the strongest in some time in the four-and-a-half-year-long war and could be made stronger with more deliveries of air defence systems from Western allies.

Source: Reuters

He noted for the first time the "Veles" operation using pipelines in Ukraine's northeast, near Kupiansk, a city in Kharkiv region recaptured by Ukrainian forces in late 2022 but under constant Russian pressure since. "It is a strong operation, well planned and technology-driven. The Russians tried to use underground gas pipelines to advance past our positions," Zelensky said. "Our fighters turned this tactic against the Russians and used the underground infrastructure against the occupiers with extraordinary success," he said. The claims are Zelensky's and were reported by Reuters; Russia has not commented on the Veles claim in the reports reviewed.

Vivaldi and the fortress belt

Zelensky also referred to an air assault operation in eastern Ukraine and the "Vivaldi" operation further north, designed to prevent Russian advances in key areas. In Vivaldi, one senior commander reported last month that Ukraine's Third Army Corps had cleared an area of 75 square kilometres (29 square miles) of Russian infiltration groups and recaptured a further 10 square kilometres, Reuters reported. That operation was focused north of the so-called "fortress belt" of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, whose capture would bring Russia closer to seizing the entire Donbas region.

Conflicting signals on Abu Dhabi talks

On diplomacy, Zelensky was reported as saying that partners who spoke to the Russian leader on the morning of 27 October conveyed indications that Russia was serious about a planned November meeting of negotiating teams in Abu Dhabi, with an agenda including initial de-escalation steps, security priorities and ending the war. Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov gave a more cautious account on Wednesday, speaking on the sidelines of the third Russia-Africa forum in Moscow. "By and large, we are still in the preparation phase," Ryabkov said, cautioning that discussions about a possible Abu Dhabi meeting were premature, AFP reported.

Source: AFP via EuropeSays

Ryabkov said Moscow hoped intensive diplomatic engagement with US President Donald Trump's administration would help lay the groundwork for a lasting settlement, and stressed that any agreement would need to address what Moscow considers the root causes of the conflict, including its security concerns and issues involving Russian-speaking populations and the Russian Orthodox Church. He also downplayed the possibility of a significant shift in US policy after the upcoming US congressional elections.