Jens Asbjørn Bøgen
The public was kept in the dark during the early months of the operation, but last week, the commander in charge revealed details of how the first phase had progressed.
Ukrainian forces have recaptured 125 square kilometers of territory in the northern Donetsk region during an extended military campaign dubbed Operation Vivaldi.
The push recently liberated several key settlements, including Drobysheve, Shandryholove, and Derylove.
Success came down to a radical battlefield tactic. Commanders routinely deployed remote machines onto active front lines long before human infantry stepped onto exposed ground.
“During assault operations, drones and unmanned ground vehicles always move ahead of the infantry,” Brigadier General Andrii Biletskyi, commander of the Third Army Corps, stated on Telegram.
Grinding down enemy lines
Heavy bomber drones fly deep into enemy territory to drop explosive ground bots.
“The Third Army Corps was the first in the world to begin air-deploying ground robotic systems. Our heavy bomber drones deliver suicide ground drones more than 10 kilometers into the enemy’s rear,” Biletskyi explained.
While electronic warfare units are used to build an air shield over the combat zone, the air-dropped platforms strike supply hubs, logistics carriers, and hidden positions.
The Russian forces failed to spot the assault before the Ukrainian forces had already taken their new positions, due to the Russian radars and surveillance systems being jammed during the Ukrainian advance.
The fighting has taken a heavy toll on defending units. According to official statements from the corps, recent actions killed 800 Russian soldiers, pushing total personnel losses across two operational seasons above 3,000. The numbers have not been independently verified.
Ukrainian soldiers are currently holding off three separate Russian armies at once, including the 20th, 25th, and 1st Tank armies.
Specialized formations like the 21st KRAKEN regiment, the DOZOR border detachment, and the HUR intelligence unit Artan helped carry out the coordinated push.
Operation Vivaldi
Ukrainian troops have spent months quietly pushing Russian units back in the woodlands north of Lyman, out of public view.
On Tuesday, the commander of Ukraine’s 3rd Army Corps put a name on that campaign and said the fighting is nowhere near finished.
Brigadier General Andrii Biletskyi told reporters the corps had been running a phased offensive in northern Donetsk Oblast that his staff had codenamed after Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, with three further phases still to come.
The corps said in a statement that the first phase cleared 75 square kilometers of Russian troops in northern Donetsk Oblast and de-occupied another 10 square kilometers.
Ukrainian units retook Novoselivka, Oleksandrivka, Yarova, the outskirts of Korovyi Yar, and the village of Serednie. Donetsk Oblast is part of the Donbas, the eastern industrial region Russia demands Ukraine cede as part of any settlement.
