Ukraine's 3rd Corps confirms its offensive, clearing 85 sq km in Donetsk Oblast

Ukraine’s 3rd Army Corps has officially confirmed that its units cleared Russian infiltration elements from Novoselivka, Oleksandrivka, Yarova, and the outskirts of Koroviy Yar, while fully liberating the settlement of Serednye in Donetsk Oblast.

Corps Commander Andriy Biletskyi released combat footage documenting the newly liberated settlements, officially identifying the ongoing assault as Operation Vivaldi.

"I won't say public attention aids our operations, which are only now gathering momentum. What can be disclosed at this moment: indeed, the 3rd Army Corps has initiated an offensive operation along this axis [the Lyman front]. For now, please simply remember this name. This operation proceeds under conditions of strict operational silence. [...] The liberating shaping phase of this operation was the recapture of Serednye," Biletskyi stated.

He stressed that securing the banks of the Chornyi Zherebets River represents merely one phase of a much broader maneuver scheme.

"Open sources are circulating substantial information claiming our final objective is to reach the bank of the Chornyi Zherebets River. But our operation is titled 'Vivaldi' — and Vivaldi, as is well known, composed four seasons. This is merely the first. [...] Good news will follow, but right now our actions require silence," Biletskyi emphasized.

The commander confirmed that Ukrainian forces broke through Russian defense in northern Donetsk Oblast following weeks of operational silence, eliminating Russian forward footholds, clearing 75 square kilometers, and de-occupying 10 square kilometers. The offensive severely degraded the combat readiness of Russia’s 20th and 25th Combined Arms Armies.

Russian losses in this operational phase total roughly 1,500 personnel, over 12,000 unmanned aerial vehicles, and hundreds of armored vehicles, artillery systems, and utility logistics trucks.

Ukrainian unmanned systems units severed Russian tactical supply routes. Relentless corps-level interdiction strikes forced Russian forces to withdraw their forward fuel and lubricants depots beyond Ukraine's borders entirely, relocating them to Voronezh Oblast.

On Sept. 15, DeepState open-source monitoring project reported that Ukrainian defense forces liberated Serednye and pushed Russian troops back near Shandryholove in the Lyman community of Donetsk Oblast.

Ukrainian Offensive Operations on the Lyman Axis

Four-month operational blackout: On Sept. 8, reports emerged that Ukraine’s defense forces quietly initiated counteroffensive operations near Lyman in early May. OSINT analyst Clément Molin noted the maneuvers remained under strict operational secrecy for four months.

Salient collapsed: According to analytical reporting, Ukrainian units liberated a string of villages before completely slicing off a pronounced Russian salient, throwing occupying forces back across the Zherebets River.

Territorial scope: Foreign OSINT observers reported that Ukrainian forces operating on the Lyman axis have retaken hundreds of square kilometers of territory.

Milblogger panic: In an assessment on Sept. 9, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) noted that Russian military bloggers have acknowledged Ukrainian counterattacks in the Lyman sector, increasingly criticizing standard Russian military field commands for filing false operational reports to mask territorial losses.