Ukraine’s Operation Vivaldi continues to generate cascading effects on neighboring sectors immediately north and south of the Lyman area.
Biletskyi reported that Ukrainian counterattacks forced the command of the Russian Western Grouping of Forces (GoF) to redeploy elements of the Russian 1st Guards Tank Army (GTA, Moscow Military District [MMD]) from the Kupyansk direction to the Lyman direction, easing the pressure on Kupyansk-Vuzlovyi (southeast of Kupyansk).
ISW has also observed evidence that Ukraine’s successes during Operation Vivaldi are creating cascading effects for Russian operations north of Lyman in the Borova direction while also hampering Russian efforts to advance toward Slovyansk and Kramatorsk from the east.
The Russian Southern GoF has slowed its offensive tempo toward Slovyansk from the east, potentially to regroup its forces. The Russian military command likely intended for offensive operations east of Slovyansk to synergize with the Russian Western GoF’s efforts against Slovyansk from the northeast — the effort that Ukrainian forces thwarted during Operation Vivaldi.
Ukrainian forces have also been counterattacking east of Slovyansk, which, combined with the defeat of Russian forces north of the Siverskyi Donets River, could further halt the Russian drive toward Slovyansk from the east entirely.
