Russian military forces have acquired 1,700 square kilometers (656 square miles) of land in Ukraine this year and are progressing towards the fortress belt in Donbas, as stated by Moscow’s top general during an inspection of the troops. Since the invasion in 2022, Russia has aimed to seize the entire Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, leading to a retreat of Kyiv’s forces to a line of cities amidst intense combat.
Ukrainian forces have also reported territorial gains in the ongoing conflict, with a senior Ukrainian commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, announcing in mid-April that Kyiv’s troops had recaptured close to 50 square kilometers of land in March. Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, revealed that a total of 80 settlements and over 1,700 square kilometers of territory had been taken by Russian forces since the beginning of the year.
The accuracy of these battlefield reports could not be independently verified by Reuters, and Ukraine’s General Staff declined to comment on the claims. However, pro-Ukrainian maps suggest that Russia has gained control of approximately 600 square kilometers this year.
Gerasimov disclosed that Russia’s Southern Grouping of forces was launching an assault on the Donetsk fortress belt, which includes the cities of Sloviansk, Kramatorsk, and Kostiantynivka. He mentioned that Russian troops were positioned around 7 to 12 kilometers (4.3 to 7.5 miles) away from Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, with ongoing engagements in parts of Kostiantynivka. Additionally, Russian forces were making advances in Sumy and Kharkiv to establish a “security zone.”
Kyiv’s military forces reported halting two Russian advances near villages close to Sloviansk within the past day, along with multiple attacks near Kostiantynivka and its neighboring villages by Moscow. Furthermore, Russian forces made several unsuccessful attempts to breach Ukrainian defenses near settlements close to the Russian border in the Kharkiv region.
According to Russian assessments, Russia currently controls the majority of Donbas, approximately 75% of the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, as well as parts of the Kharkiv, Sumy, Mykolaiv, and Dnipropetrovsk regions in Ukraine. Russia also holds Crimea, which it annexed in 2014 following previous conflicts, although the peninsula is recognized internationally as part of Ukraine by most countries.
Pro-Ukrainian maps indicate that Russia has secured 116,793 square kilometers, equivalent to 19.35% of Ukraine’s territory, with a slowdown in its advancement noted this year.