[Discussion] Ukrainian Corps Says Lyman Offensive Retook 176 Km², Captured Over 250 Troops

Territory Recovered in Donetsk

Ukraine’s Third Army Corps says it has retaken 51 square kilometers in the latest phase of Operation Vivaldi, bringing total reported gains across the three-phase offensive to 176 square kilometers.

The corps said Ukrainian forces restored control over Nove, Ridkodub, Katerynivka, Karpivka and Novomykhailivka in the Lyman sector of the Donetsk region. Open-source battlefield monitors, including DeepState, have independently documented Ukrainian gains in the area, although the full scale of the claims has not been independently verified.

More than 250 Russian personnel were captured during the operation, according to corps commander Gen. Andrii Biletskyi. He said entire subunits surrendered, including officers, drone pilots, artillery personnel, mortar crews and electronic warfare specialists.

Defense of the Lyman Sector

Operation Vivaldi targeted Russian forces attempting a pincer movement around Lyman, an important defensive and logistical hub in northern Donetsk. Russian troops had advanced to the Siverskyi Donets River, threatening supply routes supporting the city.

Mykola Bielieskov, a research fellow at Ukraine’s National Institute for Strategic Studies and an analyst at the Come Back Alive Initiatives Center, said further Russian advances could have disrupted logistics and made Lyman significantly harder to defend.

The operation was intended to regain the initiative and prevent local Russian advances from developing into wider gains in Donetsk. Biletskyi said the campaign, named after Antonio Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, would continue.

Deception and Unmanned Systems

The Third Army Corps said it misled Russian forces into expecting Ukraine’s principal attack toward Shandryholove and Zelena Dolyna. Russian reserves were drawn into counterattacks there while Ukrainian troops advanced toward Nove.

Ukraine combined infantry, armor, artillery and drones while emphasizing unmanned systems to reduce risks to personnel. Small ground robots were reportedly deployed behind Russian lines, while two Soviet-era BTR-60 armored personnel carriers were converted into remotely operated vehicles, filled with explosives and sent against fortified positions near Nove and Katerynivka.

According to the corps, the vehicles struck a command-and-communications site, while Ukrainian forces also destroyed launch positions used by Russia’s Rubicon drone unit. Assault troops then broke through defensive positions.

The corps said backup communications channels kept reconnaissance units connected with command posts and drones when Starlink service failed. It reported that damaged communications were restored during the offensive, though those performance claims have not been independently confirmed.

Competing Battlefield Claims

The Third Army Corps reported total Russian losses of 5,000 personnel across all three phases of Operation Vivaldi, without providing a breakdown of killed, wounded and captured troops. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy separately said Ukrainian forces had killed or wounded 10,660 Russian personnel across all active fronts during the preceding week.

Russia denied suffering a setback near Lyman. Its Defense Ministry described Ukraine’s announcement as a “smokescreen” for Western supporters and said only small Ukrainian assault groups had unsuccessfully attempted to infiltrate northern Donetsk.

The Ukrainian and Russian casualty figures could not be independently verified.

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