Biletskyi: Ukraine defeats Russian pincer, disrupts Donbas encirclement plan

“The Russians had a plan in the Donetsk sector — to envelop the so-called fortress cities [of Donbas] from the north and south. From the south, the envelopment was to go through Dobropillia, and from the north through this salient, which is now being cut off, toward Sviatohirsk and then on to Barvinkove, where these two pincers of the Russian army — the Dobropillia pincer from the south and the Sviatohirsk pincer from the north — were supposed to close,” Biletskyi explained.

He recalled that in the Dobropillia sector, “the infiltration was stopped last year. The situation there is again quite difficult, but under control.”

“The northern pincer has effectively been defeated and destroyed,” Biletskyi stressed. The Third Corps commander added that it is “critically important” for the Defense Forces that Russian troops “do not have the capability to resume this offensive.” That is why, he said, disrupting Russian rear areas and logistics is particularly important to the operation.

Biletskyi said the failure of Russia’s plan to envelop the fortress cities from northern Donetsk Oblast means Russian forces “will have to assault the Sloviansk-Kramatorsk and Druzhkivka-Kostiantynivka urban areas head-on.”

“Assaulting these cities head-on is far more painful and costly for them than trying to envelop them and effectively — if they had managed to do so — take them without a fight. That is why logistics is important for us,” the Third Corps commander said.

Asked about the objective of Operation Vivaldi, Biletskyi said the strategic task of defending Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts means “we are not fighting simply for tens, hundreds or thousands of kilometers.”

“We are fighting for advantageous defensive lines, and this operation is intended to bring Ukrainian forces to those advantageous defensive lines,” he added.

The Third Army Corps commander also addressed whether there had been any temptation to announce Operation Vivaldi’s initial successes earlier, during the Sept. 6 visit to Kyiv by U.S. negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

“There was such a temptation, but not on our part, not in the Third Corps,” Biletskyi said. “And the commander-in-chief [Mykhailo Drapatyi] fully supported us in keeping this information quiet. Only after reaching designated lines should certain parts of the operation be disclosed.”

Biletskyi added that he understands the specifics of the war’s “diplomatic track” and the need for psychological influence “both on the enemy’s army and its population.”

“And this is a serious dimension of war — psychological operations. So after several stages are completed, we will announce their results. Everyone took 75 [liberated] square kilometers to mean 75 square kilometers, but no one told you it ended at 75 square kilometers. Ukraine can expect good news,” the general added.

Operation Vivaldi

On Sept. 15, Third Army Corps Commander Brig. Gen. Andrii Biletskyi publicly confirmed for the first time that the Ukrainian military was conducting an offensive in northern Donetsk Oblast.

The operation was named Vivaldi. So far, the Defense Forces have cleared 75 square kilometers and liberated 10 square kilometers from Russian occupation.

Russian losses at this stage of the operation totaled about 1,500 troops, more than 12,000 drones and hundreds of armored vehicles, artillery systems and other vehicles.

Ukrainian unmanned systems units also cut Russian logistics routes. Strikes by the Third Army Corps forced Russian forces to move fuel and lubricants out of Ukraine to Russia’s Voronezh Oblast.

The Institute for the Study of War concluded that Ukraine’s Defense Forces achieved an important operational objective through Operation Vivaldi by disrupting Russian attempts to encircle Ukraine’s 'fortress city belt' in Donbas. Ukrainian gains north of Lyman made Russia’s “already unrealistic plan” to encircle the fortress cities from the north and south impossible to carry out, the analysts said.