Russian troops emerged from a sewer only to be struck by a drone, Ukraine says

• Russian troops are trying to enter the town of Avdiivka through tunnels.
• Some troops emerged from a sewer and were struck by a Ukrainian drone, Ukraine claims.

Russian troops tried infiltrating the Ukrainian town of Avdiivka through a sewer but were immediately hunted down by attack drones, Ukraine claims.

Russian forces have been persisting in their attacks on the town in eastern Ukraine since October, leaving behind a trail of dead soldiers and wrecked vehicles.

A recent report from the think tank the Institute for the Study of War said that Russian forces may be planning to fight through it "block-by-block."

In its latest attempts to take Avdiivka, Russian troops have been entering the city's fringes using service tunnels, according to recent UK intel.

Ukraine's Khorne Group posted a video on Telegram describing a recent confrontation, translated by the WarTranslated account on X.

In the video, a member of the Khorne Group said that Russian troops emerged from the sewer smeared in feces in the Tsarska Okhota area of the town and tried to run into the suburbs.

The drone footage shows a soldier running into the doorway of a ruined house before a strike hits from above.

Business Insider could not independently verify the video.

The episode highlights how the Ukraine war has largely become a stalemate. Repeated offensive maneuvers attempted by one side are quickly neutralized by the other.

In Avdiivka, despite heavy fighting raging around the town for months, the front line has barely moved, and both sides have suffered losses — but the Russian forces have sacrificed a huge quantity of men and materiel.

The Russians are likely experiencing a ratio of 13 losses for every Ukrainian soldier, Forbes estimated, based on vehicle losses.

Despite Russia's failures to make significant gains, for months they repeated unsuccessful assaults on the town, often making the same mistakes without changing tactics.

After suffering heavy losses, Russia only recently shifted tactics to attack with infantry instead of armored vehicles.

Even this tactic has proved costly. A Ukrainian commander recently said that Russia can sometimes lose between 40 to 70 troops in a single day but then repeat the same assault the following day.

Despite the losses, Russia has a much larger reserve of soldiers to call upon and an arsenal of military equipment to resupply its forces in its attempts to take Avdiivka, which is part of its mission to capture the entire Donetsk region in Ukraine.