Did Ukraine Just Orchestrate the Deadliest Symphony in Modern Warfare?

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Become a Member Today and Unlock EXCLUSIVE Videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKfak8fBm_Lhy4eX9UKxEpA/join  Ukraine’s 3rd Army Corps has officially launched "Operation Vivaldi," a multi-stage counter-offensive in northern Donetsk designed to shatter Russia's Lyman salient and protect the Sloviansk-Kramatorsk Fortress Belt. Across its initial phases, Ukrainian forces cleared over 125 square kilometers, pushing Russian forces back over the Zherebets River and forcing enemy logistics supply hubs back into Voronezh Oblast. Discover how Ukraine's air-lifted ground drones, multi-brigade coordination, and logistics lock-downs are reshaping the Eastern Front.  ⏱️ CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Brigadier General Biletsky Announces "Operation Vivaldi" in Donetsk 02:14 - Neutralizing Infiltration Cells and Forcing Logistics Back to Voronezh 04:29 - Lyman Salient Destroyed: 200 Sq Km Liberated and Russian Encirclement 07:41 - Ukrainian Forces Cross the Zherebets River and Seize High Ground 09:32 - Evolution of the Donetsk Front: 3rd Army Corps' 4-Month Offensive 11:55 - Four Seasons of Vivaldi: Speculation on Phase Two and Yampil Operations 14:19 - Command Deception: Putin's False Sviatohirsk Claims and Kremlin Misinformation  Support us directly as we bring you independent, up-to-date reporting on military news and global conflicts by clicking here: https://www.youtube.com/@TheMilitaryShow/join  #militarystrategy #militarydevelopments #militaryanalysis #themilitaryshow  SOURCES: https://pastebin.com/mJastDvb

Transcript

00:01Donetsk has been the key battleground of the war in Ukraine for years.

00:052026 was the year it would fall, Russia declared.

00:08Just like 2025 and 2024 and 2023.

00:11And you get the picture.

00:13With the collapse of its spring and summer offensives,

00:15Russia has already seen its forces get bogged down in the Donetsk quagmire,

00:19but it never saw what Ukraine would do next.

00:22A symphony of destruction has been unleashed.

00:25Operation Vivaldi has been launched,

00:26and it has already resulted in Ukraine scoring some of its biggest victories of the war in years.

00:31There's more to come.

00:33Season one of four is completed, and it's already devastated Russia.

00:37On September 15th, the commander of Ukraine's 3rd Army Corps,

00:41Brigadier General Andriy Beletsky,

00:43officially revealed that Ukraine has launched an offensive operation in the Donetsk region with two key goals.

00:48Dismantle the infiltrators and push Russian logistics so far back that they can't serve Putin's Donetsk forces.

00:55The operation, which has been codenamed Vivaldi, is already well underway and achieving results.

01:01But Beletsky also wisely pointed out that what's still to come is being kept top secret so that Russia has

01:06no chance of countering it.

01:07Before we dig deeper, everything you see here is researched, verified, and produced by real people.

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01:18Keeping things relatively vague, Beletsky said in a video address,

01:22In recent weeks, there has been talk regarding the retreat of Russian troops in the Donetsk sector and the elimination

01:27of the so-called Liman salient.

01:29Settlements that have come under the control of Ukraine's defense forces are being named, and military maps are being updated.

01:36In other words, we're going to be learning more from official sources very soon.

01:39But as you'll soon discover, there's plenty that we can see from open sources and battlefield maps that show us

01:45what Ukraine has pulled off in the Liman direction.

01:48Beletsky also provided some numbers, stating,

02:06These would be huge results on their own, but they're only the start of something much bigger.

02:11Officially, this is all that Ukraine has said.

02:13Unofficially, we're seeing chaos in the Russian ranks, all being caused by Operation Vivaldi.

02:19We mentioned the two goals of that operation a moment ago.

02:22Dealing with Russia's infiltrators is one of those goals.

02:25Since 2025, Russia has shifted its approach.

02:28It now relies on small infiltration units to gain ground, rather than the large mechanized assaults it used in the

02:34past.

02:34Part of the reason is that so much Russian equipment has been destroyed by Ukraine that these assaults aren't even

02:40possible anymore.

02:41However, Russia's main problem is the massive drone-infested kill zones Ukraine has created, which make any large troop movement

02:48an easy target.

02:49In 2026, Russia has adapted its tactics by using drones to secure safe corridors for its infiltrators, allowing them to

02:56push deeper behind Ukrainian lines.

02:58The new tactic needed to be countered.

03:00Operation Vivaldi is dismantling this approach, Biletsky says, as Ukraine has launched countless search-and-strike missions that have eliminated

03:08Russian infiltration pockets in places like Yurova, Novoselivka, Kurovy-yar, and Oleksandrivka.

03:15Now we're seeing the same thing happen in Donetsk, particularly in Serednaya, the liberation of which Biletsky claims is part

03:20of a shaping preparatory phase for what's to come.

03:23These attacks on infiltration units have been combined with the logistics pushback, forcing Russian supplies so far back that they're

03:31practically useless to Russia's infiltrators.

03:33While a host of Ukrainian units, including the 60th and 125th Mechanized Brigades, the 3rd Assault Brigade, the 66th Mechanized

03:41Brigade, the Kraken Special Forces Unit, and elements of Ukrainian special operations and military intelligence focused on the infiltrators, Ukraine's

03:50drone operators were letting their mid-range drones fly.

03:52Those drones have been striking Russian supply routes and fuel infrastructure, and have been so effective that they've forced the

03:59supply of fuel and lubricants for the Russian military to move back out of Ukraine and into the Russian region

04:04of Voronezh.

04:05This is Ukraine's logistics lockdown program in action.

04:09Former Ukrainian Defense Minister Mikhailo Fedorov said the enemy will no longer feel safe even far from the line of

04:15combat when this program was launched.

04:16Operation Vivaldi is proving him right.

04:20According to Biletsky, the first phase of this operation has resulted in Russia losing around 1,500 personnel, along with

04:2712,000 drones and hundreds of units of equipment.

04:30But that isn't the real headline here.

04:32To see how impactful Operation Vivaldi has already been, we need to head to a very specific region of the

04:38Donetsk Front, a region that Biletsky himself mentioned, Liman.

04:42If there is one region where the effects of Operation Vivaldi are being felt more than any other, it's Liman.

04:47Open source analysts have already been reporting on the complete deterioration of Russia's position in that sector.

04:54Near Liman, Russia has been slowly growing a battlefield salient that it was hoping would allow it to flank parts

04:59of the Donetsk Fortress Belt that Russia needs to topple in order to claim Donetsk and, by extension, seize the

05:05Donbass.

05:06But Ukraine hasn't simply allowed that salient to grow.

05:09Over the past four months leading into September, it's launched counterattack after counterattack to cut this salient off, leaving the

05:16Russian infiltrators inside surrounded and setting up for everything that Ukraine wants to achieve in Donetsk moving forward.

05:23And now the salient is officially cut off.

05:26Military analyst Clement Milan exposed this with battlefield maps to prove it on September 8th, revealing that Ukraine had liberated

05:33200 square kilometers of territory in the Liman direction.

05:36UNN added more, noting that the destruction of the salient has also enabled Ukraine to push Russia's forces back to

05:43the Zerebets River.

05:44Keep that river in mind, because we'll be coming back to it.

05:46For Russia, the crushing of this salient is an absolute disaster.

05:50There are already reports circulating among Russia's military bloggers that Russia has suffered much larger losses in that salient than

05:57even Ukraine has reported,

05:58and that Ukraine is starting to push farther than the salient itself.

06:01The Zerebets River may have already been crossed, leading to Ukraine contesting occupied settlements on the other side.

06:07If that's the case, this would mean up to two years of Russian progress has been crushed in the space

06:12of about four months of Ukrainian counterattacks.

06:15There are also reports that Ukraine is in control of the settlement of Ivanovka, and is now contesting Terny, which

06:21is across the river.

06:21Russia's military bloggers are panicking.

06:24Now they're being forced to acknowledge major setbacks that had previously gone underreported by this key part of the Russian

06:30propaganda machine.

06:31Ukraine has practically broken what military commander Valery Shuraev calls a very old defensive line in Liman, which has led

06:39to Russian forces being effectively encircled.

06:42This is largely an operational encirclement, but a tight one. Russian soldiers are still holding out in many settlements in

06:48the Shandrigalovo area, and their supplies are only available by air, Shuraev said, hinting at the effectiveness of Operation Vivaldi

06:55on Russia's logistics in the process.

06:57Other military bloggers are discussing a worsening tactical situation near Liman, which a blogger named Rybar attributes to an inaccurate

07:05assessment of the situation being fed to Putin by his generals, which has resulted in Russia failing to adapt to

07:11Ukraine's counterattacks.

07:13Parallels are already being drawn to Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region.

07:17Russia claimed to have occupied that city in late 2025, only for Ukraine to immediately prove Russia wrong, and then

07:23go on to launch a counteroffensive that destroyed the infiltration units in the city.

07:28Effectively fully liberating it.

07:30Russia now faces a major problem in Liman. Does it divert resources to plug the gaps that Ukraine has created?

07:36If it does, Russia's forces elsewhere are weakened, creating opportunities for more counterattacks.

07:41Or does the Kremlin keep things as they are and hope that the deteriorating front lines somehow hold?

07:46That would be a bad idea too, and the reason why comes down to the Zerebets River we asked you

07:51to keep in mind.

07:51Before we explain more and dig deeper into why Operation Vivaldi has its name and what it may aim to

07:57achieve next, this is a reminder that you're watching the military show.

08:00We make videos like this to expose the true situation on the battlefield, so make sure you are subscribed and

08:05have notifications enabled if you want to catch all of our content.

08:10If Russia has indeed been pushed back to the Zerebets River and potentially beyond, then its problems extend much deeper

08:16than Liman.

08:16There are already reports, including a UA Wire article dated September 11th, that Ukraine has already crossed the river.

08:22Russian military bloggers, including Boris Rozhyn, are reporting that Ukraine is also bringing extra soldiers into the fight to solidify

08:30its push past the river.

08:31The enemy has crossed the Zerebets River and bringing reserves into battle.

08:35Fighting is going on for control of Zerechna, around Ivanovka and Kolodezsy.

08:39There are clashes along the Red Khodob-Novoa Line.

08:42The enemy is sending new assault groups into Liman and building up its forces, Rozhyn declares.

08:46And remember this comes from a Russian blogger, precisely the type of person, whose interests are served by talking up

08:52Russian successes and downplaying Ukraine's Operation Vivaldi, which has already become too big for Russians to ignore.

08:59For Russia, this Zerebets River situation is a major problem.

09:02Ukraine has held its positions on the left side of the river for most of the way, which forced Russian

09:07forces to cross the river further north so its forces could head back south to attack Ukraine's fortifications.

09:12This means that Russia has only ever had one point of attack, as it hasn't been able to double up

09:17with forces from the east or northeast.

09:19But now it looks like Ukraine has managed to cut through the Russian forces and has moved forward right to

09:24the banks of the river, where they've established themselves.

09:27Russia's problem now is that these positions on the left of the river are filled with hills, which give Ukraine

09:32high ground that it can defend and, as the Russian line crumbles, sets up opportunities for Ukraine to cross the

09:37Zerebets River and push Russia even further back.

09:40All of this might feel like it's coming out of nowhere.

09:43Every mainstream report tells us that Russia is slowly pushing deeper into Donetsk.

09:47But the reality is that Ukraine has been setting up Operation Vivaldi for a long time and there's much more

09:52to come.

09:53We can head all the way back to October 2022 to see when Ukraine initially liberated Liman after Russia had

10:00claimed the annexation of Donetsk and even set up a sham referendum to prove that the people wanted Russian occupation.

10:06That liberation of Liman was intended to enable Ukraine to push further east.

10:11However, Russia consolidated its defenses over the winter of 2022 and into 23, setting the stage for a slow pushback

10:17over the next two years.

10:19It's this pushback that allowed Russia to inch back into the Liman sector and also, ultimately, set the stage for

10:25the creation of the salient that we mentioned earlier.

10:27Operation Vivaldi hadn't been created at this point, but in the summer of 2024, a major change occurred.

10:34Ukraine transferred its 3rd Assault Brigade, led by Biletsky, to the Donetsk sector and gave it the job of holding

10:40a much larger sector of the front lines than most other brigades were tasked with holding.

10:43By February 2025, the 3rd Assault Brigade had been morphed into Ukraine's 3rd Army Corps, giving Biletsky even more responsibility.

10:51Still, Russia pushed. Pressure on Liman remained high through 2025 and into 26, leading to the creation of the salient.

10:58Still, the transfer of Biletsky and his soldiers to the region set the stage for the first phase of Operation

11:03Vivaldi.

11:04Sometime around late May, Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty reports, Ukraine quietly moved soldiers, mostly taken from the 3rd Army

11:12Corps, about 50 kilometers north of the fortress belt city of Slovyansk.

11:16Those soldiers were tasked with attacking the salient, pushing north out of Liman as well as south towards the settlements

11:21of Nova, Ritkodub and Katerinivka.

11:24These elite and battle-hardened soldiers did just that. A four-month offensive had been triggered, leading to what we

11:31see today.

11:31The first phase of Operation Vivaldi has been completed.

11:35Russia's salient is shattered, and by multiple accounts, Ukraine is now pushing to the Zerebets river and beyond.

11:40This was no overnight success. It was the result of literally years of setup and work, resulting in a four

11:46-month campaign that has eliminated key Russian gains made over the last couple of years.

11:51Pressure has now been relieved on Slovyansk and Kramatorsk, and Russia's plans to encircle as much of the fortress belt

11:57as possible lie in ruins.

11:59Russia now has to deal with a situation where it could have been thrown back by up to three years

12:04in its operational planning for the Donetsk region,

12:06and its lost critical positions that Ukraine will now be actively fortifying as it moves on to the next stage.

12:12What will that next stage be? Well, that's the big question.

12:16The name Vivaldi hasn't been chosen for this operation because it sounds nice.

12:19There is a bigger reason behind it, as Biletsky explains.

12:23Our operation is called Vivaldi, and Vivaldi, as is known, has four seasons, and this is only the first one,

12:29he declares.

12:30In other words, everything that we've just discussed is just one part of a much larger operation being planned in

12:35the Donetsk region.

12:36However, Ukraine is playing its cards very close to its chest.

12:40The first season was so successful, in part, because Russia had no idea it was coming.

12:45Ukraine didn't announce the transfer of the 3rd Army Corps soldiers to the Lehman sector, for instance.

12:49Ukraine just did it, and Russia felt the after effects.

12:52So, what will come during the second, third, and fourth seasons is being kept under wraps.

12:57But we can speculate, and there are some signs of what's to come from the battlefield.

13:01Russian military bloggers are already reporting that positions in Yampil are extremely shaky and being placed under pressure.

13:08Now, that could be part of the first phase of Operation Vivaldi, or we could be seeing the start of

13:12the second season.

13:13Either way, losing Yampil would mean that all of the northern region of Donetsk that Russia has occupied becomes exposed

13:19to Ukrainian drone and artillery strikes.

13:22Perhaps setting the stage for further liberations of territory, making it even harder for Russia to continue its push against

13:28the fortress belt.

13:28In fact, United24 media reports that Russia may have already lost positions in northeastern Yampil, though that hasn't been confirmed

13:36yet.

13:37Beyond that, the push to the Zerebets River may be part of the second season of Operation Vivaldi, Euromiden Press

13:42suggests.

13:43However, that hasn't been confirmed, with Beletsky not even mentioning the river as a strategic objective of the operation.

13:48All we really know for sure is that there is more to come, and we're likely not going to know

13:52precisely what Ukraine considers to be the next part of this operation until it's announced by Ukraine itself.

13:58For now, what we're seeing is a push by Ukraine that is so hard that Russia is struggling to establish

14:02new defenses that it can use to stem the tide.

14:05Territory in Donetsk, specifically in Liman, is being liberated faster than Russia can re-secure it, meaning that Ukraine has

14:12all of the battlefield momentum in that sector right now.

14:15Operation Vivaldi is the reason why.

14:17Now Russia has to try to figure out a way to counter Ukraine's brilliant operation.

14:21That's going to be hard to do for a simple reason.

14:23Putin seems to be living in a delusional la-la land created by his own commanders, meaning he may have

14:29no idea that any of this is happening.

14:30For evidence of that, we look to a claim that Putin made on September 1st.

14:34According to Russia's leader, Russian forces had captured 14 settlements in August, including the city of Svyatohirsk, which Putin claims

14:41fell at the end of the month.

14:43Svyatohirsk is important.

14:45The city, which is in northern Donetsk, would be able to serve as a staging point for Russian assaults in

14:49the direction of the fortress belt, if Russia could hold it.

14:52It also lies on the route to Liman, meaning the city could help Russia claim Liman if it's occupied.

14:56Only there's a problem. Putin was wrong. Russia doesn't hold Svyatohirsk.

15:01In fact, it's not even close to taking the city.

15:04Take off your clown noses, Bilecki declared in his response to Putin's grand claim as he revealed that Ukraine's 60th

15:10Mechanized Brigade retains full control over Svyatohirsk.

15:14And to prove the point, the video that Bilecki used to deliver this revelation was shot in the city center,

15:20with the holy assumption Svyatohirsk Lavra landmark visible in the background.

15:24We don't know about you, but we feel it's unlikely that Russian occupiers would allow a lethal Ukrainian commander into

15:30the center of a city that they hold for a video shoot.

15:33Something is clearly fishy here. Putin may have been simply lying about Svyatohirsk. That's a possibility.

15:38It's rare that a word of truth escapes Putin's lips, as his entire life has been dedicated to manipulating situations

15:44to his own advantage.

15:45However, this particular lie wouldn't have been in service of anything other than making it seem as though Russia is

15:51in a stronger position than it is.

15:52Rather, there's something else going on here. In this instance, Putin may have thought that he was telling the truth.

15:57Why? His battlefield commanders are lying to him.

16:00And specifically, they're misleading Putin about the amount of ground that Russia holds in the Liman sector.

16:06Perhaps even up to the point where Putin has no idea that Operation Vivaldi has destroyed the Liman salient.

16:11That's according to the Telegraph, which suggests that Putin's commanders are so scared of delivering the news of failure to

16:16their leader that they would rather lie about territory captures to save themselves.

16:21Leaving Putin and his Kremlin cronies completely in the dark about what's really happening in Donetsk.

16:26That changes everything for Russia. Putin's commanders are now asking for the deadline to capture Donetsk to be pushed back

16:32to March 31st, 2027, after it was already pushed back to the end of 2026.

16:38Putin will be asking himself why. Those same commanders are telling him that Russia is winning. Why would they need

16:43more time?

16:44The answer that he doesn't know is that it's Ukraine that's making all of the big moves in Donetsk.

16:48Operation Vivaldi is underway. Putin doesn't even know about it.

16:52And if he does, he thinks that it's failing because he's only getting information from military commanders who are lying

16:57out of self-interest, rather than telling their leader the truth.

17:00This is only good news for Ukraine.

17:02When Putin knows so little that he's claiming victories that never happened, it also means that the Kremlin won't adjust

17:08its tactics or try to counter anything that Ukraine is doing in any meaningful way.

17:12There will be no surprises for Ukraine, but Russia is going to have to face a whole lot of surprises

17:17as Season 1 of Operation Vivaldi moves into Season 2 and beyond.

17:22Russia will only be able to react. It can shuffle troops around to plug gaps, but Ukraine will be able

17:27to manipulate where those troops go and exploit new gaps as they appear.

17:31Donetsk is where the stage is being set for the end of the Ukraine war. Only it's Ukraine that's going

17:36to end the war, not Russia.

17:38Perhaps Putin is too busy worrying about what's happening inside his own country to seek out the truth of the

17:43situation in Donetsk. If that's the case, we're not surprised.

17:46As Operation Vivaldi's brutal symphony gets louder, Ukraine is setting world records with its drone strikes.

17:52You can find out all about those records by watching our video.

17:55But before you go, are you enjoying our reporting? Subscribe and share your thoughts below.

18:00And if you'd like to support the real people behind the channel, consider becoming a member for exclusive content.

18:05And thank you for watching.

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