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Ukraine Launches Operation Vivaldi, Clears 75 Square Kilometers in Its “First Season”
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Ukrainian forces have launched a counteroffensive in northern Donetsk region, clearing 75 square kilometers of Russian infiltration positions and regaining control of several settlements, Third Army Corps Commander Andrii Biletskyi said on September 15.
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In a video address, Biletskyi said Ukrainian units had conducted the operation under conditions of information silence, eliminating areas where Russian forces had infiltrated Ukrainian positions.
According to Biletskyi, Ukrainian troops cleared the settlements of Novoselivka, Oleksandrivka, and Yarova, as well as the outskirts of Korovyi Yar. Ukrainian forces also liberated and established control over the settlement of Serednie.
Biletskyi said the counteroffensive dealt a “heavy blow” to the combat capabilities of Russia’s 20th and 25th Combined Arms Armies. Russian forces lost around 1,500 personnel, more than 12,000 drones, and hundreds of armored vehicles, artillery systems, and other vehicles during the operation, according to the commander.
The Ukrainian military named the counteroffensive Operation Vivaldi, a reference to Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons.
“There is now a lot of information in open sources that the ultimate goal of the operation is to reach the banks of the Chornyi Zherebets River. But our operation is called ‘Vivaldi,’ and Vivaldi, as we know, has four seasons. And this is only the first of them. […] There will be good news, but for now our actions require silence,” Biletskyi said.
The operation follows a series of Ukrainian advances across several sectors of the frontline in recent weeks. In an August 26 assessment, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported that Ukrainian troops had gained ground in the Kharkiv, Donetsk, and Zaporizhzhia regions despite continued Russian offensive operations.
Geolocated footage analyzed by ISW indicated Ukrainian advances in several widely separated areas, including near Kupiansk, Dobropillia, and Orikhiv.
More broadly, ISW assessed on September 12 that Ukrainian forces had reversed much of Russia’s territorial gains made since March 2026 while conducting successful counteroffensive operations in multiple sectors.
According to the think tank, Ukrainian forces have increasingly challenged Russia’s battlefield initiative since late 2025 and throughout 2026, marking the first sustained shift of this kind since Ukraine’s Kursk offensive in August 2024.
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