Ukraine's Operation Vivaldi: a months-long counteroffensive north of Lyman that caught Russia's General Staff off guard
Ukraine's 3rd Army Corps publicly confirmed on September 15 that it has been running a counteroffensive north of Lyman in Donetsk Oblast since late May, dubbed Operation Vivaldi. The operation, kept secret for months, has reportedly cleared more than 100 square kilometers, inflicted thousands of Russian casualties, and pushed the front east of Svyatohirsk, with analysts suggesting the Lyman salient may be effectively cut off.
Key points
- The offensive, dubbed Operation Vivaldi, has been underway since late May but was publicly confirmed only on September 15 by 3rd Army Corps commander Brigadier General Andriy Biletsky.
- According to the Ukrainian Defense Forces, the operation has cleared 75 sq km and de-occupied another 10 sq km, with an additional 40 sq km liberated between September 15 and September 20.
- Ukrainian figures say enemy losses during this stage of the operation amount to about 1,500 soldiers, later updated by the 3rd Corps to 3,000 personnel, along with over 12,000 drones and hundreds of armoured vehicles and artillery systems.
- On September 20, Biletsky confirmed the de-occupation of Shandryholove and Derylove, as well as full control over Drobysheve.
- Russian assault units of the 1st Tank Army cannot stabilise the front in the Lyman area and are sustaining critical losses during logistics, according to an officer of the 3rd Corps reconnaissance unit, Andriy.
- The Institute for the Study of War wrote that Operation Vivaldi disrupted Russian attempts to encircle Ukraine's Donbas 'fortress belt' of cities; on September 18 the 3rd Corps said the elite Russian UAV unit Rubikon had been pulled from the Lyman-Borova direction due to heavy losses.
- The location of the current line of contact is disputed: official Ukrainian data places it at least 10 km east of Svyatohirsk, while Western OSINT analysts put it about 25 km east.
Why it matters
Operation Vivaldi reportedly slipped past Russian military intelligence for several months, exposing a significant failure of Russian situational awareness on a sector where Vladimir Putin claimed to have 'taken Svyatohirsk' on September 1. The advance, combined with claims that up to 240 sq km of the Lyman salient may have been effectively cut off, suggests a potentially decisive shift on the eastern front and shows how open-source satellite imagery allowed Western analysts to detect the operation long before Moscow acknowledged it.
What happened
The 3rd Army Corps of Ukraine's ground forces has been conducting a counteroffensive north of Lyman in Donetsk Oblast since late May, but the operation, named Vivaldi, was kept secret and publicly confirmed only on September 15 by the corps commander, Brigadier General Andriy Biletsky. According to the Ukrainian Defense Forces, the offensive cleared 75 sq km and de-occupied 10 sq km during its initial stage, with a further 40 sq km liberated by September 20, when Biletsky also confirmed the de-occupation of Shandryholove and Derylove and full Ukrainian control over Drobysheve. Ukrainian figures put enemy losses during this stage at around 1,500 soldiers, later updated to 3,000 personnel, along with more than 12,000 drones and hundreds of armoured vehicles, artillery systems and automotive equipment. An officer of the 3rd Corps's reconnaissance unit, Andriy, told Radio NV that Russian assault units of the 1st Tank Army cannot stabilise the front in the Lyman area and are taking critical losses in logistics before reaching the combat zone, forcing Moscow to commit incompletely trained reserves. On September 18 the corps said Russia's elite Rubikon UAV unit had been pulled from the Lyman-Borova direction under the weight of those losses. The Institute for the Study of War wrote that the operation has disrupted Russian attempts to encircle Ukraine's Donbas 'fortress belt' of cities.
How Ukrainian sources describe it
Ukrainian sources frame Operation Vivaldi as a successful deception that outwitted the Russian General Staff for several months and as proof of the professionalism of both Ukrainian troops and Ukrainian-language OSINT analysts, who detected the operation early. They stress that a Russian-language pro-Ukraine analyst, Michael Naki, produced the most detailed public reconstruction of the operation, while Russian OSINT channels such as Rybar and Anatoly Radov are described as largely republishing Western geolocators' data under their own names rather than conducting independent verification.
Where reporting differs
Ukrainian official figures and Western OSINT analysts disagree on how far east the current line of contact actually runs near Svyatohirsk: official Ukrainian data places it at least 10 km east of the town, while Western OSINT analysts put it about 25 km east. Western geolocators have also stopped publishing updates on the Lyman area since confirming the Ukrainian advance.
Background
Early signs of the operation were detected in early June by the French OSINT analyst and war cartographer Clément Molen, who noticed on satellite maps that Russian KAB bombs were falling near the village of Nove and inferred Ukrainian control, since Russia does not strike its own forces with such bombs. After confirming the Ukrainian advance, Western geolocators paused their public mapping of the Lyman area, while Russian-language OSINT channels continued to recycle that data under their own names. The operation eventually ran up against Vladimir Putin's September 1 claim that Russia had 'taken Svyatohirsk'.