Up to 140 sq. km have been deoccupied as part of Ukraine's Operation Vivaldi in the northern part of the Donetsk region, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with Reuters. According to him, the operation is ongoing and its results are not yet final.
„„Vivaldi“ is a very successful operation. It is not over yet. To date, approximately 125-140 sq. km have been deoccupied,“ Zelensky said.The Ukrainian president also reported an increase in Russian losses in the past two to three months. According to him, since the beginning of the year, the Russian army has been losing between 30,000 and 32,000 people per month, with between 21,000 and 22,000 of them killed and the rest seriously wounded. In the recent period, the number of losses has reached about 42,000 people per month.
Zelensky said that during the offensive, Ukrainian losses were several times smaller than Russian ones, despite the fact that Russian troops were in a defensive position. These numbers are presented as an estimate by the Ukrainian president.
The operation was postponed for a year
According to Zelensky, the Ukrainian military wanted to start the operation a year ago, but then the preparation was not sufficient.
“Thank God, we decided to postpone it for a short time and now we have good results and smaller losses“, the president said.Operation “Vivaldi“ is being conducted by the Third Army Corps in the northern part of the Donetsk region. On September 15, the corps reported the clearing of 75 square kilometers and the deoccupation of another 10 square kilometers.
On September 20, it was reported that Ukrainian forces had liberated the villages of Shandrigolovo and Derilovo and had established full control over Drobyshevo.
On September 28, the commander of the Third Army Corps, Brigadier General Andrei Biletsky, stated that in the third stage of the operation, Russian losses had reached 2,000 soldiers. According to him, over 250 Russian servicemen had been captured.
Sources: Ukrainska Pravda, Reuters