The Occupiers Were Surrendering In Entire Units: The Ukrainian Armed Forces Employed A New Tactic
- 28.09.2026, 15:16
Operation "Vivaldi" has moved into the operational phase.
The offensive by the Ukrainian Defense Forces in the Liman sector is significant not only because of the liberation of territories, but also because of how it unfolded. This opinion was expressed by Yevgeny Dikiy, a veteran of the Russian-Ukrainian war, former company commander in the “Aidar” battalion, and director of the National Antarctic Scientific Center , during an appearance on Radio NV.
“Even what has already been achieved specifically during Operation ‘Vivaldi’—this is no longer at the tactical level, nor is it at the strategic level. It is what is called the operational level. That is, at the operational level, the initiative has already been seized. And while that’s important, how it happened is far more significant. In fact, new methods have been tested,” said Dikiy.
He added that this refers to a new reform of the Ukrainian army under the command of Mykhailo Drapaty, Andriy Biletsky, and Denis Prokopenko (“Redis”), which has already begun to yield results.
“Our army has developed entirely new tactics in the context of the current war, which features a vast combat zone, an infiltration zone, and the widespread use of drones. And these new tactics have proven to be very effective. Moreover, everything was brought into play: from the fact that coordination between units is carried out in a completely different way, to the fact that priorities are set in a completely different way—determining at which stage and to what depth the enemy’s defenses are to be struck,” — explained Dikiy.
The expert noted that this operation effectively lacked any classic assault operations:
“First, there was a very skillful encirclement of the enemy’s rear, effectively cutting off the enemy from its own rear. Without entering those areas—exclusively from a distance. This was followed by waves of drones adapted for various tasks. And only after that did assault troops enter the territories liberated from the enemy.
In other words, they didn’t storm the enemy at all. The enemy was first pushed back remotely, and then the troops moved in to clear the territory. This is actually very important because it’s scalable.”
Earlier, DeepState analysts reported on new results from the Defense Forces’ operations in the Lyman area during Operation “Vivaldi.” Specifically, they reported the liberation of three settlements at once—Ridkoduba, Novoye, and Katerynivka.
Commenting on this operation, Andriy Biletsky, commander of the Third Army Corps, noted that during the operation, the Defense Forces, in particular, took more than 250 Russian occupiers prisoner. According to him, entire units of the invaders surrendered in full, including officers, pilots, and artillerymen. He also emphasized that this operation is continuing.