Overview
- Ukraine publicly named the covert counteroffensive Operation Vivaldi on 15 September, and the 3rd Army Corps under Andrii Biletskyi has led the campaign.
- The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War estimates about 147 square kilometres were retaken under Ukraine’s media blackout, a tangible but limited reversal of recent Russian advances.
- Kyiv prepared by striking Russian logistics, including an oil pipeline, and used bomber drones, kamikaze robots and electronic warfare to mask movements and disrupt about 20,000 Russian drone missions, Ukrainian commanders say.
- Moscow has answered with stepped-up long-range missile and drone strikes on Ukrainian cities that have killed civilians and damaged power and transport infrastructure, increasing wartime hardship for civilians.
- The fighting has hardened into a technology-driven, attritional contest that tests industrial output, air-defense stocks and Western aid levels, and the next key indicators will be sustainment through winter and whether Vivaldi can be scaled into a broader offensive.