Currently, Russian forces occupy 19.4 percent of Ukrainian territory. Ukrainian forces have not only held Russian advances to a slow crawl, but they have begun to push Russian forces back in localized counterattacks since last autumn. Ukrainian forces liberated the town of Kupyansk in Kharkiv oblast in November and retook tactically important positions in Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts last month. In fact, Ukrainian forces have made net daily gains more frequently over the past six months than they had in the previous nine. Indeed, Ukraine liberated more land than Russian forces seized the last two weeks of February.

Source: Washington Post March 05, 2026 10:32 UTC