Russian troops retreating near Kupiansk abducted civilians, including children and elderly residents, and drove them into a gas pipeline to cover their withdrawal, the 2nd National Guard Corps Khartia said. The men of military age walking with them in civilian clothes were most likely Russian soldiers who had removed their uniforms, the corps added. Its reconnaissance drones filmed the group on 27 September. Ukrainian forces watched the column but did not open fire because of the civilians, ArmyInform reported.

Ukraine's military has accused Russia of using civilians as human shields in Kupiansk before. During its offensive, Russian troops also tried to enter the city through an inactive gas pipeline. Now, Khartia says, a pipe once used by Russian saboteurs is carrying abducted civilians toward occupied territory.

Nine people forced into the pipeline

Khartia filmed the group as the corps pressed its counteroffensive in the Kupiansk community in Kharkiv Oblast. The footage shows nine people: children, elderly residents, and a person on crutches. Men of military age in civilian clothing walk alongside them.

The group was led from Kupiansk through Holubivka village to the Shebelynka-Ostrohozhsk gas pipeline.

The footage shows them being led into the pipe, where they face a walk of about 10 km in darkness. The pipe exits in a forest, and the civilians will likely be taken to occupied territory.

"We documented this case. The materials will be handed over for a war crimes investigation," the corps said.

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Russia holds 2,000 people hostage in Oleshky without food or water—Ukraine flew 4,000 kg of food to locals across the Dnipro

Ukrainian forces held fire—Russia counted on it

Ukrainian troops saw the group and did not open fire because children and elderly people were among them. Russia counted on exactly that, Khartia said.

The corps warned that Russian propaganda could present the footage as an "evacuation" or "rescue" of civilians, Militarnyi reported. Khartia calls it an abduction.

Khartia's counteroffensive near Kupiansk comes alongside other Ukrainian advances farther south. In northern Donetsk Oblast, the Third Army Corps' Operation Vivaldi has regained control of 125 km², including 50 km² previously under Russian occupation, and inflicted more than 3,000 Russian personnel losses, the corps said. The operation has effectively erased Russia's planned Lyman pincer. Near Kupiansk, Ukraine's defense forces continue pushing Russian forces toward the Oskil River, and the liberation of forests near Dvorichna and Zapadne has reduced the threat to the city.

Ukrainian forces carried out one of the largest drone food delivery operations across the Dnipro to occupied Oleshky, dropping about 4,000 kg of supplies provided by partners at 100 locations across the city where people are trapped without food, electricity, or water, Kherson Oblast head Oleksandr Prokudin said on 27 September. Russian forces punish residents who receive aid—shooting down supply drones, confiscating packages, and beating people caught accepting food, he noted.

Oleshky—a city across the Dnipro from liberated Kherson—has been occupied since 2022. Russia sealed off the city in late 2025, and conditions worsened sharply in early 2026 as occupation forces cut off food supplies, prevented evacuation, and left the dead unburied. The drone flights are now the only humanitarian operation reaching the trapped population, making each sortie both a lifeline and a target for Russian forces that treat civilian starvation as a tool of control.

Multiple military units flew food across the Dnipro

Since March, Ukrainian forces have been systematically delivering food to Oleshky by drone in coordination with the 11th National Guard Brigade's Bolharychi unit and the 34th Separate Marine Brigade Borysfen, Prokudin said.

The latest operation expanded the effort: the 30th Marine Corps, the Hrim tactical group, the 34th National Guard Regiment, and the 79th Border Detachment joined alongside the Borysfen brigade and the Bolharychi unit.

"Instead of loud statements, we chose the path of concrete action," Prokudin wrote.

The deliveries fly across the Dnipro and drop food packages at pre-selected locations across the occupied city.

Prokudin said about 2,000 people remain trapped in Oleshky, including nearly 50 children. Ukraine's ombudsman and international monitors have put the figure at up to 6,000, with about 200 children.

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Russia shoots down supply drones and beats residents for receiving food

Russian forces try to disrupt the deliveries. Soldiers shoot down drones carrying food, confiscate or resell packages meant for children and elderly residents, and detain people caught receiving humanitarian aid, Prokudin said. Residents are thrown into basements and beaten.

"Deliberate blocking of aid and creation of famine among the civilian population are war crimes with no statute of limitations. Everyone involved in these actions will face inevitable accountability," Prokudin wrote.

Ukraine prepared an evacuation list, secured the ICRC's readiness, and coordinated a ceasefire on its side, but Russia has not confirmed its readiness to open a route, Ukraine's ombudsman said.

Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Michael O'Flaherty warned on 25 September that the humanitarian crisis in Oleshky is deteriorating rapidly. Civilians, including children, are trapped without food, medicines, medical care, running water, or electricity, and reports indicate a high risk of death, he said. Under international humanitarian law, Russia as the occupying power is obliged to provide the population with food and medical supplies, O'Flaherty noted, and called for an immediate local ceasefire, unimpeded humanitarian access, and safe evacuation of civilians.

Ukraine's National Guard is setting up its own center to recruit foreigners into its ranks. The center will speed up the process of contracting foreign volunteers and deploying them to combat units as part of an experimental project approved by the government, Interior Minister Ivan Vyhivskyi says.

Around 16,000 foreigners from at least 72 countries already serve in the armed forces, according to Defense Post. The new center formalizes that pipeline for the National Guard, home to some of Ukraine's most effective units, including Azov, which is fighting for Donbas right now, and the Khartiia Corps.

Former Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov set the ambition higher still, saying in June 2026 that Ukraine wants to fill 30 to 50 percent of its assault and infantry positions with foreigners.

The Guard builds its own pipeline

Until now, foreigners have joined the National Guard through a Defense Ministry recruitment center. To speed things up, the Guard is building its own, which will coordinate the process and walk candidates through every step, from interviews and background checks to training.

"The candidate's path to service should be as fast as possible," Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi said, adding that combat units should get their reinforcements more promptly.

Commanders pushed for it

The idea came from the front. Vyhivskyi said National Guard brigade and corps commanders raised it with him during recent trips to frontline regions, and that the center should directly strengthen their combat units.

Foreign recruits are already a fixture of the fight. Large numbers have come from Colombia and across South America, and Colombian volunteers have formed a reconnaissance and assault group within the 47th Mechanized Brigade. Their motivations vary, from combat experience to pay well above what many earn at home, but the effect is the same: extra soldiers for the Ukrainian force.