Ukraine robot offensive exposes a vulnerability in Putin’s war machine

A surprise Ukrainian robot offensive in the eastern Donbas region appears to have reversed over a year of Russian territorial gains, according to security experts, dealing a strategic blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin‘s territorial ambitions.

Details of the Ukrainian counteroffensive, dubbed “Operation Vivaldi,” have started to come to light in recent weeks, offering rare insight into the fast-changing nature of frontline combat operations amid Russia’s full-scale invasion.

As part of the ongoing operation, which started in May, security experts said Ukraine’s Third Army Corps had been able to deploy large bomber drones and remote-controlled robots behind enemy lines around Lyman in the northern Donetsk Oblast, apparently catching Russian forces off guard.

Russian forces have been seeking to encircle Ukraine’s so-called fortress belt cities that make up the remaining Ukrainian-held territory in the region for the past 12 months.

The third phase of Operation Vivaldi, however, liberated an additional 51 square kilometers, taking the total area of territory retaken to 176 square kilometers, Ukrainian Brigadier-General Andrii Biletskyi said on Sept. 28. The latest phase of fighting inflicted over 2,000 Russian losses, with over 250 Russian soldiers taken prisoner, he added.

Patrick Bolder, a defense expert and strategic advisor at the Hague Center for Strategic Studies (HCSS), described the offensive as a “big bloody nose” to Putin’s minimal war aim of seizing Ukraine’s Donbas region.

Alongside demonstrating an ability to keep details of the operation secret, running disinformation campaigns against Russia and orchestrating a months-long air operation to disrupt logistical supplies to the frontline, Bolder said Ukrainian forces had managed to secure control of the air in the Lyman area, denying Russia the use of its drones.

Ukrainian forces were then able to deploy their own drones to drop unmanned ground vehicles behind enemy lines to attack the Russian troops from behind, Bolder said, without endangering their own personnel.

“They put this together masterly,” Bolder said.

For the Kremlin, “gaining the Donbas is very far away at the moment because the Ukrainians have come into better defendable positions now — which will make it…