Ukraine’s Operation Vivaldi Pushes Back Russian Lines and Produces Unusually Large POW Haul
Ukraine’s Operation Vivaldi has retaken territory in the Lyman sector and produced a large group of captured Russian soldiers, as Ukrainian units report freeing more settlements and seizing second‑line personnel such as drone operators and artillerymen.
Ukraine’s ground push under Operation Vivaldi is reshaping parts of the front in the Lyman direction and exposing gaps in Russia’s battlefield picture, according to Ukrainian military reports and open-source analysis.
Brigadier General Andriy Biletsky, commander of Ukraine’s 3rd Separate Assault Brigade, said Ukrainian forces have liberated another five settlements in the Lyman direction as part of the third stage of Vivaldi. A Ukrainian soldier from the 66th Mechanized Brigade has been filmed in the liberated settlement of Shandryholove, indicating how far Ukrainian units have advanced along at least one axis of the operation.
One of the most striking claims concerns prisoners of war. Ukrainian sources say Russian troops surrendered to Ukraine as part of Operation Vivaldi in northern Donbas, with about 250 prisoners of war reported. Biletsky released footage that he said showed Russian soldiers captured by Ukrainian forces during the operation.
An open-source analyst who reviewed the images said they could visually count 78 prisoners in the footage and estimated that around 90 might be present in that specific recording, factoring in people not fully visible from the angles shown. The analyst noted that this video may not cover the full group referenced in Ukrainian claims of around 250 captured soldiers.
Commentary from the In Factum channel highlighted the type of Russian personnel reportedly taken prisoner. According to that channel, Ukrainian forces captured drone operators and artillerymen. These roles typically sit in the second or even third line of a defense, directing and supporting frontline infantry rather than holding trenches themselves.
In Factum argued that this pattern shows either that Russian forces did not expect to be outflanked so quickly or that problems in Russian reporting left second‑line units in exposed positions. The channel suggested that in some cases Russian command may have "painted" a front line in reports that did not match the actual situation on the ground, so units at lower levels were operating based on a distorted map of where Ukrainian troops were.
That dynamic would help explain how technical specialists such as drone operators and artillery crews ended up in Ukrainian custody in such numbers. Capturing these personnel offers Ukraine potential insight into Russian drone use, fire-control procedures and communication habits, in addition to the immediate tactical effect of removing them from the battlefield.
The gains around Lyman fit into a wider picture of Ukrainian strikes on Russian logistics and support infrastructure. Ukraine’s General Staff has reported attacks on a Pantsir‑S2 air defense system near Seltso in Russia’s Bryansk region; on command and deployment sites for Russian UAV units in occupied Vynohradivka; on an attack‑drone storage, preparation and launch site in occupied Donetsk; and on targets including a repair unit in Mariupol, ammunition depots in Skadovsk and a training ground in another occupied area.
At the same time, Russia’s Defense Ministry has been promoting its own advances. It says Russian forces have "liberated" the settlements of Ulanovo in Sumy region and Novovodyanoye in Donetsk, and that the army has been advancing across all areas of the so‑called special military operation zone since the start of 2026 while expanding security buffer zones in border regions.
Ukraine’s leadership and media have also pointed to claimed Russian losses in Operation Vivaldi, including reports of 2,000 Russian troops killed or wounded, although detailed casualty data has not been independently verified in the available material. Those figures, combined with the reported number of prisoners and the capture of support specialists, are being used in Ukrainian messaging to show that the operation is inflicting serious damage on Russian forces.
For civilians in newly liberated settlements in the Lyman direction, these developments change daily risks. Areas under Russian occupation move into a status where Ukrainian services can return, but the front line may still be close enough for shelling and airstrikes. How long Ukrainian units can hold and consolidate these positions will depend on whether Operation Vivaldi continues to disrupt Russian command, logistics and reconnaissance in northern Donbas.
Signals to watch include further official confirmation of liberated locations as Ukraine loosens operational security, new verified imagery of additional prisoners or captured equipment, and whether Russian defensive belts around the Lyman area show signs of reorganizing or fracturing under pressure from Ukrainian advances.
Sources
- OSINT