MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia was storming the town of Sudzha on Sunday after special forces used a gas pipeline to surprise Ukrainian units as part of a major offensive to eject Ukrainian soldiers from the western Russian region of Kursk, pro-Russian war bloggers said.

Tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers are at risk of being encircled, open-source maps of the battlefield show.

Thousands of Ukrainian troops who stormed into Russia's Kursk region last summer in a shock incursion are nearly surrounded by Russian forces there, in a major blow to Kyiv which hoped to use its presence there as leverage over Moscow in any peace talks.

Russian special forces crept miles through a major gas pipeline near the town of Sudzha in an attempt to surprise Ukrainian forces as part of a major offensive to eject Ukrainian soldiers from the western Russian region of Kursk Scores of Ukrainian soldiers reportedly seized about 1,

The Russian army has intensified its campaign to push the Ukrainian Armed Forces out of the Kursk region. Combat operations are taking place in settlements near the city of Sudzha, with the enemy attempting to encircle and expel Ukrainian units,