Ukraine’s ‘Vivaldi’ Operation Claims 40 km² Advance and 250 Russian POWs in Northern Donbas
Ukraine’s 3rd Army Corps says its Operation “Vivaldi” has liberated several villages in northern Donbas, retaken around 40 square kilometres and captured more than 250 Russian soldiers, while estimating 2,000 Russian personnel losses.
Ukraine’s 3rd Army Corps is claiming a significant local advance in northern Donbas under Operation “Vivaldi,” with new territory retaken and hundreds of Russian soldiers reported captured.
The Corps commander published what he described as results of the operation’s third phase. According to his account, Ukrainian forces liberated the settlements of Nove, Ridkodub and Katerynivka and regained control of Karpivka and Novomykhailivka.
An open‑source project, DeepState, separately reported that Operation “Vivaldi” had led to the liberation of Ridkodub, Nove and Katerynivka and to regained control near Novomykhailivka and Lypove. DeepState estimated the newly retaken area at 40.7 square kilometres.
The 3rd Army Corps commander said that during the third phase of “Vivaldi,” Russian forces suffered around 2,000 personnel losses, with more than 250 soldiers taken prisoner. These figures have not been independently verified. The commander described this phase as a turning point for the entire operation.
A separate account stated that Russian troops surrendered to Ukraine in northern Donbas as part of Operation “Vivaldi,” with about 250 prisoners of war mentioned.
Ukrainian sources have also highlighted how the operation is being fought. One reported that old BTR armoured personnel carriers were converted into kamikaze ground drone vehicles, used as unmanned platforms packed with explosives and driven toward Russian positions.
The combination of territorial gains, prisoner captures and reported Russian losses suggests that “Vivaldi” is more than a small skirmish, though the fighting remains concentrated in one sector of the front. For Ukrainian units, positions in Nove, Ridkodub, Katerynivka and around Karpivka, Novomykhailivka and Lypove offer more favourable lines than those held earlier in the year.
In Moscow, the Kremlin framed recent Ukrainian actions more broadly. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Ukraine “will have to pay the price for the actions that have taken place in recent months,” adding that what is happening now is that price. He said Russia must ensure that no one is tempted to announce plans to deliver crushing strikes.
Those remarks did not mention Operation “Vivaldi” by name but placed Ukrainian offensives and cross‑border actions in a wider narrative Russia uses to justify its own strikes.
The next concrete signs of how far “Vivaldi” has shifted the battlefield will come from updated mapping, imagery of troop movements and any confirmation of prisoner numbers in future exchanges. Russian attempts to counterattack around the retaken villages, or visible reinforcement of nearby sectors, would show how Moscow is prioritizing this part of the Donbas front relative to other contested areas.
Sources
- OSINT