- Category
- War in Ukraine
Ukraine Knocks Russia’s 144th Division Out of the Fight in Operation Vivaldi
Prefer U24 Media on Google
- Authors
![Photo of Vlad Litnarovych]( "Photo of Vlad Litnarovych")
Russia’s 144th Motor Rifle Division has effectively ceased operating as an organized military force following Ukraine’s Operation Vivaldi, according to Andrii Biletskyi, who delivered the assessment during a meeting reviewing the results of the 3rd Army Corps operation, Militarnyi reported on October 20.
The 144th Motor Rifle Division, part of Russia’s 20th Combined Arms Army, formed a major component of the Russian grouping operating from a bridgehead along the Chornyi Zherebets River.
We bring you stories from the ground. Your support keeps our team in the field.
According to Biletskyi, Moscow intended to use that foothold to advance through Sviatohirsk toward Barvinkove.
Combined with a Russian push through the Dobropillia area, the operation aimed to create conditions to envelop the Sloviansk-Kramatorsk urban area and Ukrainian forces defending the northern Donetsk region.
Operation Vivaldi disrupted that plan. Ukrainian forces eliminated the Russian bridgehead and inflicted heavy losses on the troops assembled for the offensive, leaving the 144th Division severely degraded.
-2386d89295678553e91e27f1a0d592e3.png)
“Effectively, the 144th Division of the 20th Army ceased to exist as an organized military force,” Biletskyi said.
He assessed that the division’s current activity resembles an effort to cobble together defensive positions rather than the coordinated operations expected from a functioning division-level formation.
The damage to the broader Russian grouping also had operational consequences beyond the immediate battlefield. Biletskyi said the losses forced Russian commanders, at least temporarily, to abandon their effort to bypass Sloviansk and Kramatorsk from the north.
Earlier, reports emerged that Russian leader Vladimir Putin claimed that Moscow’s forces had captured approximately 6,500 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory and 310 settlements since the beginning of 2026. However, independent battlefield assessments suggest Russia’s actual territorial gains are roughly 45 times smaller than the Kremlin’s claims.
Discuss this article:
-c439b7bd9030ecf9d5a4287dc361ba31.jpg "Photo of Katherina Popilnichenko")
