Ukraine says it liberated three settlements in second phase of Vivaldi counteroffensive in Donetsk Oblast
Ukrainian forces have liberated Shandryholove and Derylove and established full control over the village of Drobysheve in northern Donetsk Oblast during the second phase of the Vivaldi counteroffensive, Third Army Corps commander Andrii Biletskyi said on Sept. 20.
The operation has returned a total of 125 square kilometers (48 square miles) to Ukrainian control during its first two phases, including 50 square kilometers (19 square miles) of Russian-occupied territory, according to Biletskyi.
He said Russian forces had lost another 800 troops during the second phase, bringing their total losses during the operation to more than 3,000. The figures could not be independently verified.
Biletskyi said Ukrainian forces were using drones and unmanned ground vehicles ahead of infantry during assault operations to reduce Ukrainian casualties.
“The Third Army Corps was the first in the world to begin deploying unmanned ground vehicles by air,” he said, adding that heavy bomber drones were delivering kamikaze ground robots more than 10 kilometers (6 miles) behind Russian lines.
Ukrainian battlefield monitoring group DeepState separately confirmed the liberation of Shandryholove and Derylove and reported Ukrainian advances near Shandryholove.
Ukraine had kept the counteroffensive largely under information blackout for months. Biletskyi first publicly confirmed the operation on Sept. 15, saying its first phase had cleared 75 square kilometers (29 square miles) in northern Donetsk Oblast.
The operation was named Vivaldi, with its stages referred to as “seasons.”