Russia has abandoned plan to outflank Donetsk Oblast via Barvinkove after Operation Vivaldi

Ukrainian forces have thwarted Russian attempts to outflank Donetsk Oblast via Dobropillia and Barvinkove as part of Operation Vivaldi. Russian forces have now abandoned these plans, while the 144th Division of Russia's 20th Army has been defeated and has effectively ceased to exist.

Source: Brigadier General Andrii Biletskyi, Commander of the 3rd Army Corps, at a meeting with journalists

Details: The task set before Russia's West grouping of forces, which comprises three armies – the 1st Tank Army, the 20th Combined Arms Army and the 25th Combined Arms Army – was to advance towards the city of Sviatohirsk and the settlement of Rubtsi via a bridgehead it had established on the Chornyi Zherebets River and a salient that Ukrainian forces have destroyed.

The aim was to split the Ukrainian grouping on the eastern bank of the Oskil River in two, destroy it and then continue advancing towards Barvinkove, a settlement in southern Kharkiv Oblast.

Quote: "This was Russia's strategic plan. It involved the enemy making one thrust via Sviatohirsk and the salient we eliminated, bypassing Lyman and encircling the Sloviansk-Kramatorsk agglomeration from the north. With a second thrust via Dobropillia towards the same Barvinkove, they would complete the encirclement of Donetsk Oblast. This would fulfil the key political objective set by Russia's military and political leadership: the complete capture of Donetsk Oblast.

This was the plan for 2026. They began implementing it in 2025 and were supposed to reach Barvinkove by the end of 2026.

Now, at the end of 2026, the situation for them is as follows: following the destruction of the bridgehead and the offensive grouping, the 144th Division of the 20th Army has effectively been defeated and has ceased to exist as an organised military force."

Details: Following the defeat of the Russian offensive grouping, Russia has now abandoned its attempt to outflank Donetsk Oblast.

According to Biletskyi, Russia has two options remaining on the Donetsk front: either a direct assault on Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, which would be costly and bloody and would not guarantee success, or an alternative approach. Russian forces have also temporarily abandoned the latter plan.

In effect, the Russians now have only one main direction of effort: Dobropillia. They had made some gains there and have therefore not abandoned its attempt to encircle Ukrainian positions from that direction. However, Ukraine's senior military command is now actively conducting countermeasures in the area.

The 3rd Army Corps has reached the Chornyi Zherebets River, significantly shortening the front line and allowing infantry positions to be consolidated.

Ukrainian defence forces are now holding a highly advantageous defensive line along the river, which Russian troops would have to cross again if they resumed their offensive in this direction.

The operation is also significant because it thwarted Russia's strategic objectives.

Ukrainska Pravda first reported on Russia's plan to outflank Donetsk Oblast via Dobropillia and Barvinkove in the summer of 2025.

The Dobropillia salient was intended to serve as one of two pincers through which Russian forces planned to encircle virtually all of Donetsk Oblast that is under Ukrainian control.

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