Operation Vivaldi: Zelensky cites 125–140 sq km liberated

The president’s assessment

President Volodymyr Zelensky told Reuters — cited by Ukrinform — that Ukrainian forces have liberated about 125–140 square kilometres during Operation Vivaldi. “Vivaldi is a very successful operation. It is not over yet. As of today, approximately 125–140 square kilometres have been liberated,” he said.

The Guardian’s 3–4 October briefing cites a similar figure — about 140 sq km in eastern Donbas — and notes it is a setback for the Kremlin’s aim of fully controlling the region before any peace deal.

Casualties and timing

Zelensky linked the gains to rising Russian losses: from the start of the year, he said, they ran at 30,000–32,000 people a month (21,000–22,000 killed, the rest seriously wounded), and now about 42,000 a month. Ukraine, he said, took several times fewer casualties during the offensive while largely on the defensive.

He added that the military had wanted to launch the operation a year earlier but it was not ready. “Thank God, we decided to postpone it for a short time, and now we have good results and fewer casualties,” Ukrinform quotes him.

What has been freed

Earlier reporting said the Third Army Corps completed the third phase of Vivaldi, liberating Nove, Ridkodub and Katerynivka and restoring control over Karpivka and Novomykhailivka. During the offensive the corps regained 176 square kilometres — a figure Ukrinform cites separately from the president’s 125–140 km² estimate.

Ukrainska Pravda, in a Forpost Brigade piece, notes that under Vivaldi the corps also liberated Shandryholove and Derylove and took full control of Drobysheve in Donetsk Oblast.

Why it matters

Vivaldi is one of the few Kyiv-confirmed counteroffensive episodes of autumn 2026. Zelensky’s 125–140 km² and the corps’ 176 km² may reflect different time cuts or sectors, but both point to regained ground on the Lyman axis — a military and political blow to Moscow’s Donbas narrative.