Kiev says more than 250 Russian troops have been captured in a daring Ukrainian military operation that involved “Trojan” armored personnel carriers loaded with robots and explosives dropped behind enemy lines.
As part of a counter-offensive operation known as Vivaldi, Ukrainian forces are gradually encroaching on Russian-held territory in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
Its success has brought a ray of optimism to what was otherwise a dark few months for Ukraine.
A video of the surrendering Russians shared this week by Ukraine’s III Corps shows dozens of men walking single file through the forest in a long human chain. With their heads bowed, they are closely guarded by Ukrainian prisoners of war, who herd them into a tight formation and conduct an impromptu roll call.
The video shows some Russian prisoners explaining that they surrendered because they “didn’t want to die in vain,” and how they ate tree bark and grass and drank water from puddles after running out of the most basic food supplies.
Although CNN cannot independently verify the footage or Ukraine’s claims about the surrender, some prominent Russian military bloggers have lamented Ukraine’s recent progress and called for answers from Russia’s leadership over reports of command failures and supply shortages that led to the surrender.
Russia has been pounding Ukrainian cities with near-nonstop airstrikes, taking advantage of Kiev’s severe shortage of air defense missiles. The past four months have been the deadliest for Ukrainian civilians since the full-scale invasion began in 2022.
Operation Vivaldi is primarily defined by the innovative use of Ukrainian technology, particularly air and ground drones and armored personal carriers.
During one raid, Ukrainian forces successfully airdropped a robotic system equipped with heavy artillery more than 10 kilometers behind Russian lines, according to III Corps commander Andriy Biletsky.
These land-based drones were controlled from secure command centers deep inside Ukrainian-controlled territory and could attack Russian forces from unexpected directions.
Drones have been swarming the skies above Ukraine’s front lines for years, posing a serious threat to infantry, forcing Ukraine to make ground robots an integral part of its arsenal.
These land drones are much more difficult to spot and intercept than larger military vehicles. Compared to aircraft, they can operate in all weather conditions and carry much larger payloads.
However, Operation Vivaldi is the first time they are known to have been smuggled behind Russian defense lines.
In another innovation, III Corps converted Soviet-era armored personnel carriers into unmanned kamikaze ground vehicles by filling them with explosives and sending them toward Russian strongholds, leading the Ukrainian military to refer to them as “Trojan” tanks.
Russia had been making small but steady gains for three months, but the situation changed in September when Russia lost more Ukrainian territory than it captured.
Experts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a US-based conflict monitor, estimated that Russian forces captured about 175 square kilometers (67 square miles) in September, while losing 256 square kilometers (99 square miles) elsewhere.
According to ISW, Operation Vivaldi played a key role in this, allowing Ukraine to retake approximately 150 square kilometers (58 square miles).
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy further praised Vivaldi’s achievements, saying 176 square kilometers (68 square miles) had been recaptured and 5,000 Russian troops wounded or killed since the operation began.
This loss has also been noticed in Russia. Rival, one of Russia’s most prominent pro-Kremlin military bloggers, complained about the “deteriorating” situation on Telegram and said that the Russian military will now “have to reorganize its logistics and adjust the pace of advance on both Slovyansk and Kramatorsk.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin is keen to seize the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, and the two cities that form part of Ukraine’s defenses represent a key obstacle to that goal.
Speaking at the Moscow-based Valdai Club discussion forum on Thursday, President Putin claimed that Europe and Ukraine fear Kiev will only be able to withstand Russia’s advances for another 18 to 24 months. President Putin suggested Russia could capture remaining areas of Donetsk even more quickly, saying Ukraine’s resistance was in vain
However, Operation Vivaldi has raised hopes in Kiev that Russia may not be able to seize the rest of the Donbas so quickly. Moscow has been slowly chipping away at the so-called “fortified zone” in the east, but progress has been slow and costly.
Western intelligence estimates that Russia is losing about 40,000 soldiers per month, a rate of about 340 casualties per square kilometer. ISW calculates that even if Russian forces are able to capture the rest of the Donbas Islands at their current pace, they will not do so until 2032.
