KYIV — Ukrainian forces are retaking territory through a series of offensives, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday in his nightly video address, including a previously unannounced operation in which Kyiv's troops used gas pipelines to outflank Russian positions, Reuters reported. All battlefield claims in this story are attributed to Zelenskiy and Ukrainian commanders.

Source: Reuters via KRRO, Oct 27, 2026

Zelenskiy, citing a report by senior commanders, said Kyiv's battlefield position was the strongest in some time in the four-and-a-half-year war, and could be made stronger with more deliveries of air defence systems from Western allies, Reuters said.

Operation Veles near Kupiansk

Zelenskiy noted for the first time the "Veles" operation using pipelines in Ukraine's northeast, near Kupiansk in Kharkiv region — a city 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," Zelenskiy said, according to Reuters. "Our fighters turned this tactic against the Russians and used the underground infrastructure against the occupiers with extraordinary success," he said.

The Veles manoeuvre itself was first detailed last week by Ukraine's National Guard 2nd Khartiia Corps, which said troops travelled more than 15 kilometres underground near Kupiansk — reporting the Kyiv Independent and Kyiv Post carried at the time. Those earlier reports said the corps claimed more than 30 Russian soldiers were captured; the Kyiv Independent said it could not independently verify the figures, and Russian officials did not comment in the reports reviewed.

Source: Kyiv Independent via Suara Garut, Oct 22, 2026

Vivaldi, and an air assault operation in the east

Zelenskiy also referred to an air assault operation in eastern Ukraine and to the "Vivaldi" operation further north, designed to prevent Russian advances in key areas, Reuters reported. In the Vivaldi offensive, a 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, according to Reuters.

75 sq kmArea the Third Army Corps said it cleared in Vivaldi
10 sq kmFurther territory the corps said it recaptured
15+ kmUnderground route Khartiia Corps reported for Veles

The Vivaldi operation was focused north of the so-called "fortress belt" cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, whose capture would bring Russia closer to its goal of seizing the entire Donbas region, Reuters said. Russia has not commented on Zelenskiy's latest claims in the reports reviewed, and the territorial claims have not been independently verified.

What happens next

Zelenskiy's appeal in the same address was for more Western air defence deliveries. Fighting continued elsewhere on Tuesday even as a localised ceasefire held around Oleshky in the south for a humanitarian operation, both sides said.