Key facts
- Ukrainian forces have launched an offensive operation in the northern Donetsk region.
- Brigadier-General Andrii Biletskyi stated the operation is named 'Vivaldi'.
- The third army corps reportedly cleared 75 square kilometers of Russian infiltration groups.
- Biletskyi said his troops recaptured an additional 10 square kilometers.
- Sloviansk and Kramatorsk are key strongholds in the region, and their capture would advance Russia's goal of seizing the entire region.
- A village named Serednie is now under full Ukrainian control.
Ukrainian forces have launched an offensive operation in the northern Donetsk region, a focal point of intense fighting in the ongoing war, according to a senior military commander. Brigadier-General Andrii Biletskyi, who commands Ukraine's defense in the area, announced on Tuesday that the third army corps had initiated the operation, named 'Vivaldi.'
Biletskyi stated that his troops have cleared 75 square kilometers of Russian infiltration groups and recaptured an additional 10 square kilometers. He also reported that Russian military logistics were disrupted and three villages were cleared, with a fourth area around them also secured. The village of Serednie is now fully under Ukrainian control.
The Donetsk region has been the site of some of the fiercest battles of the war, with Russia aiming to control the entire region, which includes the strongholds of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk. Russia's overall advances have slowed this year, but its forces have been pressing on these cities from the south and infiltrating deeper into Kostiantynivka. Reuters was unable to independently verify Biletskyi's assertions due to the nature of drone warfare along the front lines.
These reported gains in Donetsk would add to Ukraine's earlier counteroffensive in the southeast, where Kyiv claimed to have reclaimed over 700 square kilometers of territory.