Ukraine’s 3rd Army Corps publicized details on the third phase of Operation Vivaldi in the Lyman direction, which included successfully feinting and deceiving Russian forces and the liberation of Nove, Ridkodub, Katerynivka, Karpivka, and Novomykhailivka (all north of Lyman). Ukrainian 3rd Army Corps Commander Brigadier General Andrii Biletskyi reported on September 28 that Ukrainian forces liberated 51 square kilometers of land in the third phase, for a total of 176 square kilometers over Operation Vivaldi’s three announced phases.[1] Biletskyi stated that Ukrainian forces feinted from Shandryholove (northwest of Lyman) toward Zelena Dolyna (northeast of Shandryholove), distracting from Ukraine’s main tactical objective of Nove on the northern flank of the Russian forces in the area.
Biletsky noted that Ukrainian forces used BTR-80 armored personnel carriers (APCs) converted into vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (VBIEDs) to break through Russian defenses and destroy Russian heavy fortifications. It is notable that Ukrainian forces were able to field and drive APCs up to heavy Russian fortifications without coming under Russian drone strikes, indicating that Ukrainian forces neutralized or otherwise negated Russian drone defenses. Ukrainian forces conducted extensive shaping operations and an intermediate-range strike campaign to mitigate the threat from Russian drones and electronic warfare (EW) systems and achieve tactical drone overmatch, aiding Ukrainian mechanized advances in the Lyman direction.[2]
Remember the people who told you with absolute confidence that armored maneuver was dead and that drones created a complete departure from traditional mechanized landwarfare.... and pluck them from the rolodex of people you trust the expert opinion of.
This should genuinely scare the shit out of russian generals, the russian military has optimized itself to be a surface area eating into Ukrainian frontlines along the entire boundary, and that is very effective if Ukraine is not moving their focused, mechanized formations in ways that chop stranded and strung out russian light infantry formations into chunks that will surrender in large amounts... which is exactly what is happening.
Take note, the media narrative has leaned into the russian tactic/strategy of small unit infiltration as this inevitable tide with no real good counter to it, but a basic reality here has been ignored that in terms of the flow of logistics, russia's arrangement of forces is critically vulnerable to being chopped into isolated and encircled pockets of infantry with no transportation, supplies, nor idea about what is happening beyond their local unit level.
The large scale surrender of entire russian formations is ideal, especially if the prisoners are internationally seen to be being treated relatively humanely... the critical element of russian/human desire to fight reveals existential cracks when individual russian soldiers (or mercenaries from another country fooled into fighting on the front lines) begin realizing they have the agency to surrender and stop fighting. Russia can firehose propaganda but the reality just requires continually showing the conditions of surrendered russian soldiers where they look like their bodies are in ok shape and they are fine.. and yes russia can say that is AI blah blah blah but the truth is easy to document exhaustively....
Another thing, while it is understandable how scary unmanned weapons of war are, they also provide the opportunity in clearing operations to go in first before Ukrainian infantry, and this makes de-escalation far easier as the first person to step around the corner can be a robot... and it can be shot by accident by a russian who mistakes the command of their leader who is trying to get them to surrender... and instead of the building having a 155mm artillery shell landed on it killing them all in response they can regain communication and all coordinate surrendering in a way that doesn't set off the powder keg. Additionally there is little glory to going out guns blazing in one last surprise ambush if all you can ambush is a goofy looking robot that nobody will really care about losing. This might seem like a weird point, but this is the kind of thing that happens all the time in tense situations with people with guns and robots provide a serious human capability to make that interaction less chaotic and likely to get Ukrainian soldiers or russians trying to surrender killed.
Clearing operations are the most dangerous job for soldiers and Ukraine's extensive use of unmanned vehicles is already saving many lives.