Zelensky reports 'important results' on Lyman direction as Ukraine's 'Vivaldi' offensive continues
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukrainian forces have achieved 'important results' on the Lyman direction in Donetsk Oblast within the 'Vivaldi' counter-offensive led by the 3rd Army Corps. The operation, publicly confirmed on 15 September, has gone through three stages with reported territorial gains, the withdrawal of an elite Russian drone unit, and disruption of Russian plans to encircle Ukrainian cities in the Donbas.
Key points
- Zelensky on 27 September reported 'important results' for Ukrainian forces on the Lyman direction within the 'Vivaldi' operation, while declining to declare it complete.
- The counter-offensive was publicly confirmed on 15 September by 3rd Army Corps commander Andriy Biletsky and is being conducted east and northeast of Lyman in northern Donetsk Oblast.
- On 20 September, Biletsky confirmed the de-occupation of Shandryholove and Derylove and full control over Drobysheve, liberating an additional 40 sq km.
- A third stage brought the total territory liberated since the start of the offensive to 176 sq km, including the de-occupation of Nove, Ridkodub, and Katerynivka and control over Karpivka and Novomykhailivka.
- The U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported on 16 September that 'Vivaldi' disrupted Russian attempts to broadly encircle Ukraine's 'fortress belt' of Donbas cities.
- The 3rd Army Corps said the elite Russian Rubicon UAV unit was withdrawn from the Lyman–Borova direction due to significant losses.
- Citing Commander-in-Chief Mykhailo Drapatyi, Zelensky said Ukrainian units eliminated 10,660 Russian personnel killed and wounded across active sectors that week — a figure flagged as lacking independent confirmation.
Why it matters
'Vivaldi' is one of the few Ukrainian offensive operations in Donetsk Oblast that Kyiv has publicly acknowledged by name, with verified territorial gains across three stages and an ISW assessment that it disrupted Russia's wider encirclement plans in the Donbas. The reported withdrawal of the elite Russian Rubicon UAV unit from the Lyman direction is a notable degradation of a key Russian drone formation, and Zelensky's caution about declaring the operation complete signals that further planned actions are still being held back.
What happened
President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on 27 September that Ukrainian forces had achieved 'important results' on the Lyman direction in Donetsk Oblast within the 'Vivaldi' counter-offensive, while emphasising that he would speak 'very, very carefully' until the operation is completed. He highlighted the 3rd Army Corps and the 68th Separate Airmobile Brigade named after Oleksa Dovbush of the 8th Corps of the Airborne Assault Forces for their results that week, and said the most intense fighting was on the Pokrovsk, Kostyantynivka, and Lyman directions, with Ukrainian forces also active in Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, and Sumy oblasts.
The 'Vivaldi' operation was first publicly confirmed on 15 September by 3rd Army Corps commander Andriy Biletsky, who reported 75 sq km cleared and 10 sq km de-occupied at that stage. On 20 September, Biletsky confirmed the de-occupation of Shandryholove and Derylove and full control over Drobysheve, liberating an additional 40 sq km and bringing cumulative cleared territory to 125 sq km after two stages. A third stage saw the liberation of Nove, Ridkodub, and Katerynivka and the regaining of control over Karpivka and Novomykhailivka, with Biletsky putting total liberated territory at 176 sq km. The 3rd Army Corps also reported that the elite Russian Rubicon UAV unit had been withdrawn from the Lyman–Borova direction due to significant losses, and that Ukrainian units had cut Russian logistical routes, forcing fuel supplies to be moved outside Ukraine. Zelensky, citing Commander-in-Chief Mykhailo Drapatyi, said Ukrainian units eliminated 10,660 Russian personnel killed and wounded across all active sectors that week — a figure that sources noted lacked independent confirmation.
How Ukrainian sources describe it
All supplied sources are Ukrainian outlets publishing in Ukrainian, and they frame the Lyman-direction developments uniformly as positive Ukrainian progress. Coverage foregrounds Zelensky's own statements and communications from the 3rd Army Corps, with ISW and the Donbas Realia project of Radio Liberty used to add analytical or external weight. The framing is defensive-positive: emphasis on 'important results', the liberation of named settlements (Shandryholove, Derylove, Drobysheve, Nove, Ridkodub, Katerynivka, Karpivka, Novomykhailivka), the withdrawal of the Russian Rubicon drone unit, and disrupted Russian plans, with little critical perspective on the cost or limits of the operation.
Where reporting differs
Sources differ on the area cleared under 'Vivaldi': some report 75 sq km (the 15 September figure from the 3rd Army Corps), others 125 sq km after two completed stages, and Biletsky put the total at 176 sq km after a third stage. Zelensky's figure of 10,660 Russian personnel killed and wounded across active sectors that week was flagged as lacking independent confirmation. Enemy personnel losses during the operation are reported as about 1,500 at the initial stage and later as 3,000; the two figures refer to different phases but appear together without consistent dating across sources.
Background
The 'Vivaldi' counter-offensive in northern Donetsk Oblast was publicly confirmed on 15 September by 3rd Army Corps commander Andriy Biletsky. Zelensky had announced on 26 August that Ukrainian positions in Donetsk Oblast would be reinforced by two renewed force groupings led by Denys Prokopenko and Andriy Biletsky. The Donbas Realia project of Radio Liberty reported on 21 September that the Russian army was retreating in northern Donetsk Oblast while increasing pressure in the south, including around Dobropillia.