Between January and August 2026, personnel of Ukraine’s Air Assault Forces (DSHV) and other participating units carried out an effective offensive operation on the Oleksandrivka direction.
"Thanks to the active actions of our troops, we managed to deal a significant blow to the occupation contingent. Russian losses amounted to at least 9,550 killed and more than 6,600 wounded. There was also replenishment of the exchange fund for Ukraine," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, summing up the operation.
He said 745 square kilometers of territory had been liberated over the course of the operation. Twenty-six villages in Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk and Zaporizhia regions have been returned to Ukrainian control.
"This offensive operation of ours has been carried out precisely - exactly as planned," the president said.
In total, control was restored over 12 settlements in Dnipropetrovsk region, 10 in Donetsk region and four in Zaporizhia region during the offensive, and search-and-destroy operations were conducted against enemy forces that had infiltrated the rear area across more than 300 square kilometers, the Air Assault Forces command reported.
"Units and subunits of Ukraine’s Air Assault Forces have taken control of the settlements of Tolstoy, Novokhatske, Hrushivske, Zirka, Zelenyi Hai, Piddubne, Myrne, Tsehelne, Pryvillia, Zlahoda, Krasnohirske, Pryvilne, Novohryhorivka, Stepove, Kalynivske, Berezove, Novomykolaivka, Voskresenka, Oleksandrohrad and Yalta. Units and subunits of Ukraine’s Assault Forces have taken control of the settlements of Rybne, Maliivka, Sichneve, Ternove, Novoheorhiivka and Zaporizke," the command said on its Telegram channel.
The Air Assault Forces command said the operation’s success was made possible by careful planning at the strategic, operational and tactical levels, effective staff work, all types of reconnaissance, continuous collection and analysis of information on the enemy, quality training of personnel, skillful organization of fire support and logistics, and clear coordination among all elements of the grouping.
"Every stage of the operation was planned down to the smallest detail. Coordinated work by staffs, reconnaissance, joint fire support units and assault groups made it possible to retain the initiative, impose our own tempo of battle on the enemy, and successfully accomplish the combat tasks assigned," said DSHV commander Oleh Apostol.
The core of the strike grouping consisted of Air Assault Forces units, which, together with Assault Forces subunits and other components of Ukraine’s Defense Forces, successfully broke through enemy defenses, overcame resistance and accomplished the assigned combat tasks.
"Ukrainian soldiers are currently continuing to build on the success of the offensive operation and are methodically destroying the combat potential of the Russian occupation forces," the DSHV command said.
