A "Charter" Officer Revealed The Secret To The Success Of Operation "Vivaldi"
- 19.09.2026, 13:43
One such factor was careful planning.
Yuri Butusov , commander of the UAV company of the 23rd Assault Regiment within the National Guard’s 2nd Corps “Charter” , believes that a key factor in the success of “Vivaldi” operation by the Ukrainian Defense Forces was, above all, meticulous planning.
He spoke about this during an interview with journalist Irina Romaliyskaya on the YouTube channel “Butusov.Plus” .
The operation has lasted nearly a year
The commander noted that the operation to eliminate the enemy’s bridgehead in the north of the Donetsk region lasted nearly a year amid a lull in public information.
At the same time, the enemy did not realize until the very end that its group was under siege.
“The operation was conducted throughout this entire year, but information about it has only just come to light. All this time, the enemy had absolutely no idea—at either the operational or strategic level—what was happening... This simply wasn’t reported; there were no changes on the DeepState map. The enemy misinformed itself through its own channels: the Russians claimed they were about to capture Lyman, that street fighting was supposedly already underway there, that the city was semi-encircled, and that their offensive on Izyum was continuing successfully. Our command—the Third Army Corps—did nothing to refute this; there were no denials of the Russian claims... “Only recently have the Russians finally realized that the large bridgehead they managed to establish on the western bank of the Black Zherebets River is, in fact, already completely cut off,” Butusov said.
Factors for Success
According to the military official, the operation’s success is primarily due to meticulous planning.
“The foundation of this success is precisely that meticulous planning. That is, for the first time on such a scale, the enemy was cut off and driven out of an area of nearly 80 km². That is a fairly large area that was recaptured from the enemy, which he had indeed previously occupied. 80 km² have been cut off. And all of this took place gradually, step by step, without any large-scale, massive assaults involving significant forces. In other words, no large convoys were used... On several occasions, small armored groups were deployed for targeted operations, and airborne troops were dropped, but for the most part, our infantry tactics were used to counter enemy infiltration,” the commander said.
Butusov also noted that, at the operational level, coordination between UAV units, infantry, electronic warfare units, radio-electronic reconnaissance units, and artillery was organized in an exemplary manner.
“Great attention was paid, first and foremost, to countering enemy unmanned aerial vehicle positions, neutralizing the positions of Russian drone operators, and suppressing and destroying Russian artillery. Special attention was also paid to the complete isolation of the combat zone and the deep disruption of the enemy’s logistics routes. And these comprehensive efforts—which were planned and organized by the corps and carried out by numerous brigades and attached units—led, over the course of several months, not merely to a real turning point in the fighting, but to the complete rout of the enemy and the complete clearing of the bridgehead on the western bank of the Black Zherebets,” said the military official.
What is known about Operation “Vivaldi” and the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ offensive in the north of Donetsk Oblast
The Ukrainian military conducted an offensive operation in the north of Donetsk Oblast near Liman. Defense forces managed to liberate the village of Srednee and clear Novoselovka, Aleksandrovka, Yarovaya, and Koroviy Yar of Russian infantry.
Units from the 60th Separate Mechanized Brigade, the 125th Separate Heavy Mechanized Brigade, a battalion tactical group from the 3rd Assault Brigade, the corps’ 3rd Separate Reconnaissance Battalion and 25th Separate Anti-Tank Battalion, the 66th Separate Mechanized Brigade, the 85th Tactical Group of the 8th Special Operations Regiment, the “Artan” special unit of the Main Intelligence Directorate, and the 10th “Dozor” Border Guard Detachment.