Attacks on Kyiv and other cities. But on the front line, the Russians, having been deceived, are surrendering

Vladimir Putin’s terror struck the centre of Kyiv several times yesterday; the ‘drones of horror’ hit the Academy of Sciences and then the Dobrobut Hospital in the city centre. There are dead, injured and rubble, just as in other cities across Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave a harrowing account of the civilian targets struck by the Russians, offered his condolences to the families of those killed and said: “Every ally of Ukraine can see from this terror, from these raids, that supporting us truly means supporting people’s lives, supporting the principle that terror must not be normalised, anywhere.”

Putin is furious with Ukrainian civilians, whilst the rest of the world deludes itself – with varying degrees of good faith – that some sort of negotiation is under way, even as the Russians are surrendering on the front line: yes, they are surrendering in the face of Operation Vivaldi. 

Andri Biletsky, commander of the Ukrainian Third Army Corps, has announced the conclusion of the third phase of this extraordinary counter-offensive in the Donbas: the settlements of Nove, Ridkodub and Katerynivka have been liberated, whilst full control has been restored over Karpivka and Novomykhailivka, and a further 51 square kilometres of Ukrainian territory occupied by the Russians have been recaptured. These names may be unfamiliar to most, but suffice it to say that these villages lie in the territory straddling the line between Russian-occupied territory and the ‘grey zone’ that many complacent commentators regard as expendable: ‘Let’s hand the Donbas over to Putin, so he’ll calm down,’ they say. The Ukrainians and their staunchest allies know that Russia is insatiable and that it will not be stopped by making concessions, but by repelling it on the ground (and in international forums).

According to Biletsky’s account, his soldiers outmanoeuvred the Russian forces, who were expecting the heaviest attack in the Shandryholove-Zelena Dolyna area. In an attempt to defend that sector, the Russians brought in troops from other areas and launched several offensives towards Shandryholove. But that was not where the Ukrainians were heading; they were heading for Nove. “The enemy’s key stronghold on the bridgehead – the large settlement of Nove – was captured. It was of decisive importance to the operation. The logic of the fighting was this: whoever controls the high ground around Nove holds the initiative,” stated the commander of the Third Army Corps.

During the third phase of Operation Vivaldi (the music accompanying the press releases is that of ‘The Four Seasons’), the enemy lost two thousand men and more than 250 were taken prisoner: according to Biletsky, and as shown in the published images, entire units of Russian soldiers surrendered, along with officers, pilots and artillerymen. The main assault was carried out by units of the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade: the mobile groups broke through the enemy’s defences with a rapid advance, and the Russians were unable to bring in their artillery in time or to organise effective command and control of their units. To break through, the Third Army Corps employed an ‘original’ innovation: it converted old Soviet armoured vehicles, the BTR-60s, into robotic kamikaze vehicles, which were used to blow up the Russians’ most solid fortifications.

Putin, the master of deception, has been deceived. In early September, he claimed that Russian forces had captured Sviatohirsk, a small yet strategically important town in Donetsk, but this was not true: six days later, Biletsky himself was filmed walking down the town’s main street, with no fighting having taken place, as it lies 25 kilometres from the front line. While Moscow continued to claim imaginary gains, a real operation was getting under way – one that had been meticulously planned over the last six months, innovative and powerful: Operation Vivaldi, through which 176 square kilometres of territory have been recaptured so far.