The Ukrainian and Russian armies are increasingly fighting underground, using old Soviet-era pipelines, The Wall Street Journal reports. "Despite the danger and the pervasive sense of claustrophobia, Ukrainian soldiers told their officers that they often prefer these underground battles to fighting on the surface, where drones pose a constant threat," the article states. According to Ukrainian military personnel, Russia is preparing entire units specializing in underground combat. Russian forces use underground pipes to covertly travel several kilometers, emerge behind Ukrainian Armed Forces lines, and launch drones from there. Initially, Ukrainian forces tried to destroy the pipe exits with artillery and airstrikes, but the Russians simply cut new openings. The Ukrainian troops then began waging a full-scale war underground. Inside the pipes, which are approximately 1.2 meters in diameter, Russian forces have set up machine-gun positions, sandbag barricades, and even living quarters where soldiers have spent months. The Ukrainians send in ground drones equipped with explosives and remotely operated machine guns. The WSJ notes that similar fighting could spread to other sections of the front line, and that Soviet-era pipeline networks extend toward Poland and the Baltic states as well. 📹: Khartiia Brigade

Boots under ground! Asymmetric breakthrough in the Kharkiv Region: Khartiia Corps conducts the subterranean counteroffensive Operation VELES, advancing 15 km underground. Corps Commander General Ihor Obolenskyi explains a unique operation.

Коли поле бою стало прозорим, війна пішла під землю. Корпус «Хартія» разом з іншими підрозділами Сил оборони проводить підземну операцію «Велес» – і тепер ми можемо вперше показати роботу наших побратимів у новому вимірі війни.

Ukraine’s front line has moved underground — and it’s changing what defense actually means in this war. Near Kramatorsk, soldiers of the 93rd “Kholodnyi Yar” Brigade now travel between combat positions through tunnels, not just shelters to wait out shelling. Journalists have compared the growing network to a subway system: junctions, branch tunnels, multiple exits, rest stops for troops hauling heavy gear. The shift happened because the old solutions stopped working. Anti-drone netting over roads used to buy some protection. It doesn’t anymore. So Ukrainian units found routes drones simply can’t watch — below ground. “They’re building tunnels and underground fortifications specifically so the enemy can’t kill our soldiers with FPV drones,” said Colonel Vitaliy Sarantsev, spokesman for the 14th Army Corps. “This is genuinely important for the front today, and it’s one way of preserving personnel.” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy @ZelenskyyUa recently visited one of these underground command posts — footage shows a fully built-out facility, not a dugout. Some sites go further still: truck access, parking, mess halls, sleeping quarters, even a drone-ammunition production line the troops call their “underground factory.” The engineering has been tested. Sergiy, callsign “Marik,” commands an engineer-sapper platoon building strongpoints with corrugated steel and three layers of timber overhead. “The guys took a direct hit from 152mm artillery. The shelter held. Then a guided bomb hit ten meters away. It held that too. Everyone survived.” Training has moved underground as well. Odesa’s military academy built the country’s first underground training hub, designed so classes continue through air raid alerts. Troops even fly drones indoors as coursework. What this actually means It’s a structural answer to a battlefield that drones have made almost impossible to survive in the open. Military analyst Kostiantyn Mashovets put it plainly: tunnels let Ukrainian forces regroup, resupply, and rotate troops while staying largely invisible to the enemy, cutting off most of Russia’s tactical-level strike options before they can even be used. Militaries have reached for underground infrastructure before whenever air power made the surface too dangerous to cross. The technology each time is different. The logic stays the same: when the sky becomes too dangerous to move through, armies stop trying, and build somewhere the enemy can’t follow. “The battlefield is becoming more transparent and more dangerous,” said Colonel Ihor Obolenskyi of the “Khartiia” Corps. “Right now, underground, we’re more effective — both in spirit and technologically.” Source: ArmyInform, October 19, 2026 #Ukraine #UAF #ModernWarfare #DroneWarfare #DefendingUkraine

Austin's deep tech companies raised more than $10B in the last year. Proud of our New Vista founders on the Deep Tech 50 List: @mikewior @StevenSimoni, @yadinsoffer @asherdigs , @dkrajendra, @1autc, and @warheadco. Personally proud of @Saronic and @Apptronik too. The arsenal of democracy is strong in Texas, and only getting stronger.

My two cofounders out on the Ukrainian front lines right now. The entire war is going underground. 30km absolute kill zone above ground on both sides. Dystopian. Ukrainians are looking for any technologies they can get that give them a subterra advantage.

The @DiscipulusVent Fall Cohort just wrapped up in Gundo. 🇺🇸 Joined by @isaiah_p_taylor, @shaunmmaguire, @ADoricko & more throughout the week. 9 hardtech teams building for the American Interest. Companies below 🧵👇

If you acquire Terranova merch I recommend getting it graded like a Pokémon card, putting it in a time capsule, and opening it in a decade when we have built a continent. Thanks @GadiNBC and @PJTobia

Ukraine is now building drones underground. It's a stretch to say we need to start doing that here in CONUS, but it shows you need the ability to fight and build in the subterranean. Right @traysartech @asherdigs? Let's go gents!! xitter.cf/Drone_Wars_/status/210…