Ukraine's 3rd Army Corps says its forces captured more than 250 Russian soldiers and inflicted around 2,000 Russian casualties during the latest phase of Operation Vivaldi in the Donetsk region, as Kyiv's counter-offensive in the east gathers pace. Brigadier General Andrii Biletskyi, the corps commander, said Ukrainian troops liberated three villages and restored full control over two others on Monday, reclaiming about 51 square kilometres of territory — an area roughly the size of Manhattan.
The third "season" of Operation Vivaldi
Operation Vivaldi is a phased counter-assault by Ukraine's 3rd Army Corps in northern Donetsk, named in a play on Antonio Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" — the operation is built around four phases, or "seasons". Biletskyi called the latest stage "a turning point for the entire operation".
The three liberated villages were named as Ridkodub, Nove and Katerynivka, while full Ukrainian control was restored over Karpivka and Novomykhailivka. Nove had been converted by Russian forces into a key hub on the bridgehead, and Biletskyi said control of the high ground around it was critical to keeping the initiative in the area.
The Ukrainians also employed deliberate deception. Biletskyi said his troops tricked Russia into desperately defending a position south of the true objective. "This forced them to pointlessly burn through their reserves in counterattacks in that direction; in reality, the enemy slept through the main strike, which was aimed at capturing Nove," he said.
Breaking Russian strongpoints relied on Soviet-era BTR armored vehicles converted into ground-based kamikaze robotic systems — continuing the robotic warfare theme of earlier phases, when the corps airdropped small unmanned ground vehicles up to nine miles behind Russian lines. That earlier stage, made public this month, completed more than 15,700 missions against Russian command posts, shelters, logistics hubs and river crossings.
The phase also followed a week in which Moscow's leadership claimed victories that did not exist on the battlefield. On 1 September, President Vladimir Putin personally claimed Russian forces had captured the city of Sviatohirsk, north of Sloviansk — only for Biletskyi to be filmed walking through the city's centre days later with the Sviatohirsk Lavra clearly behind him, according to front-line accounts.
Entire units surrendering, Biletskyi says
The mass capture of Russian troops is the standout detail of the latest phase. Biletskyi said whole Russian units — including officers, pilots and artillerymen — were taken alive, dismissing the old wartime myth that Russian troops never give themselves up. "'Russians don't surrender' from movies in practice turned into entire units surrendering in full," he said.
The claim fits a wider pattern. Ukraine's "I Want to Live" project, which offers Russian soldiers a route to peaceful surrender, reported in January that more than 10,000 Russian servicemen had been captured during the war — a figure that has almost certainly grown since. Biletskyi said the newly captured prisoners could eventually be exchanged for Ukrainian soldiers held captive by Russia, turning the battlefield gains into future leverage.
Disrupting Moscow's wider plan
The operation's gains are accumulating. Biletskyi said the total territory reclaimed since the offensive began now stands at 176 square kilometres. The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War described the operation as "operationally significant", saying it has disrupted Moscow's effort to conduct a wide encirclement of the Ukrainian "fortress belt" of eastern cities.
Russia's overall front-line advances have slowed this year, though its forces continue to press from the south and infiltrate deeper into the city of Kostiantynivka. Ukraine still holds about 20 percent of Donetsk, while Moscow demands control of the entire region — its main territorial demand at negotiations that have so far stalled even as the United States pushes to restart them.
The third season of Operation Vivaldi points to a shift in momentum on this sector of the front. Kyiv is not merely holding the line but reclaiming ground with deception, robotics and infantry skill — while hundreds of Russian soldiers at a time are being removed from the battlefield, whether as casualties or as prisoners. If the pattern holds, Moscow's ambition of seizing all of Donetsk looks increasingly distant.
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