Ukraine says it has freed 16 villages in Donetsk counteroffensive, Operation Vivaldi

Right · 1Ukraine says it has freed 16 villages from Russian forces in the eastern Donetsk region in its latest counteroffensive, according to a senior commander who spoke on Wednesday 14 October 2026. 1 Right · 1Brig. Gen. Andrii Biletskyi said recent assaults had liberated three more villages in an area about 30 km (19 miles) north of Sloviansk. He said this brought the total of freed territory to 277 square kilometres (107 square miles). 1 Mixed · 2Kyiv's Third Army Corps is running the operation, called "Vivaldi". It was announced last month and aims to dislodge Russian troops north of Sloviansk, one of the two main bastions of Ukraine's "fortress belt" anchoring its eastern defences. 1 2

Right · 1Biletskyi said in a video address that "The Kremlin's plan to seize the Donetsk and Luhansk regions will not be implemented in the foreseeable future". Russia has demanded that Ukraine cede the 20 percent of Donetsk region it still controls before it stops fighting. Its pace of battlefield gains has slowed this year. 1 Left · 1Analyst Chris Tuck of King's College London, writing in The Conversation, says the operation has retaken territory near Lyman, a road and rail junction on the northern approaches to Sloviansk and Kramatorsk. He says it has disrupted a Russian advance toward the fortified cities. The Third Army Corps had claimed 176 sq km retaken by the end of September. 2 Left · 1Tuck says Vivaldi began in May but was kept quiet until September. Its first phase attacked Russian air defence, electronic warfare, artillery and logistics, and pushed back Russian drone units, including elements of the Rubicon formation, to give local drone superiority. Later phases combined drones, ground robots (some dropped by drones behind Russian lines), and cautiously used armour. 2

Left · 1Tuck notes that Ukraine has also made gains east of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, including across the Siverskyi Donets river. Russian milbloggers have confirmed problems caused by Vivaldi. 2 Mixed · 2Reuters said it could not immediately verify the battlefield reports. Tuck cautions that the advance is limited in scale, that Russia continues to advance slowly elsewhere, and that Russia is likely to adapt. He adds that most information still comes from Ukrainian sources, and that Third Corps is adept at information operations. 1 2 Mixed · 2The advances come as Russian air attacks on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure have intensified ahead of winter. Reuters also reported Ukraine's accusation that SpaceX had limited Starlink services, crippling its drones. 2 1