The official story is they feinted to the south and struck the north instead, but I don’t buy it. In this age of drones, satellites and cell phones its hard to see how the Ukrainians could have moved sufficient forces to the N without the Russians knowing something was up. And remember, they must have been putting a lot of pressure in the S to distract the Russians into moving their forces there.. All the trash talk in the clear about the upcoming Ukrainian push in the S (the feint) was too obvious.

The Russians in the “land bridge” are not only facing the Ukrainian army across the river, they now have their right flank exposed to attack, and their supply lines from the N compromised.
They Kyiv generals have obviously pulled off a brilliant deception, but I suspect there is something else going on. My guess is they are eavesdropping on high-level Russian tactical communications, and feeding the Russians a lot of bogus intercepts of their own. There is a vast intel/electronic warfare campaign going on here, both offensive and defensive, and it is clear the Russians are outclassed. I don’t doubt the West has contributed a great deal to this victory, but the Ukrainians get all the credit for prepping flawlessly and executing it magnificently.

The Ukrainians have captured an enormous amount of equipment and munitions from the retreating Russians, material they are familiar with and know how to incorporate into their own forces, The Ukrainians can now go S, knowing their left and right flanks are secure, and the Russians will be rolled up into Crimea, and there is only one way out of that place–across that bridge. The only thing that can stop the Ukrainians now is that they have to rest and resupply after their Northern campaign, and they have to consolidate their recent gains.

Meanwhile, the political situation in the Kremlin is getting really sticky.