Up to 140 sq km already liberated in Operation Vivaldi, Zelenskyy says

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stated that 125-140 sq km of territory has been liberated in the course of the Operation Vivaldi counteroffensive so far, and there has been a significant increase in Russian casualties over the past two to three months.

Source: Zelenskyy in an interview with Reuters, excerpts from which he posted on social media

Quote from Zelenskyy: "Vivaldi is a very successful operation. It's not finished yet. As of today, about 125-140 square kilometres have been de-occupied."

Details: Zelenskyy said the number of Russians killed and wounded has increased over the last two to three months.

Quote: "Since the beginning of the year, they had 30,000-32,000 casualties per month – 21,000-22,000 killed and others badly wounded. Now, we are talking about 42,000 casualties a month. So, during the offensive, we lost several times fewer people than Russia, and they have been on the defensive."

Details: He noted that the Ukrainian military wanted to launch Operation Vivaldi a year ago, but more preparations were needed.

Quote: "Thank God, we decided to postpone it a bit, and now we have good results and fewer losses."

Background:

• On 15 September, the Third Army Corps reported that 75 sq km of territory had been mopped up and another 10 sq km liberated as part of counteroffensive actions in the northern part of Donetsk Oblast.
• On 20 September, it was reported that as part of Operation Vivaldi, the Third Army Corps had liberated the villages of Shandryholove and Derylove in Donetsk Oblast and established full control over Drobysheve.
• On 28 September, Brigadier General Andrii Biletskyi, commander of the Third Army Corps, reported that the Russians had lost 2,000 personnel during the third phase of Operation Vivaldi and over 250 Russian soldiers were taken prisoner.

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