Ukraine Says It Recaptured More Than 600 Square Kilometers From Russia in 2026
Ukraine’s top military commander said on Monday that the country’s forces have recaptured more than 600 square kilometers of territory from Russian troops so far in 2026, a claim that would mark one of Kyiv’s clearest signs of battlefield momentum after years of grinding Russian advances.
Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander in chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, said Ukrainian troops had regained more land than they lost in May alone, with a net recovery of 100 square kilometers during the month. He did not publicly identify all the areas involved, and battlefield claims from either side remain difficult to independently verify in real time.
Still, the announcement points to a notable shift in the war’s tempo since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. Russian forces made gains through parts of 2024 and 2025, especially in eastern Ukraine, where Moscow has pushed toward key areas of Donetsk.
Syrskyi described the front line as “difficult and dynamic,” with intense fighting continuing across a vast stretch of territory. The most difficult sectors remain in the east and south, including areas near Pokrovsk, Oleksandrivka, and Huliaipole.
The Ukrainian claim comes as independent analysts have reported a slowdown in Russia’s territorial gains this year. In May, the Institute for the Study of War said Russia’s average daily advance in the first third of 2026 had fallen sharply compared with the same period in 2025. The assessment suggested that Ukraine’s defensive operations and counterattacks had helped slow Moscow’s offensive.
Russia has offered a very different picture of the war effort, with Valery Gerasimov, chief of the Russian General Staff, claiming that Russian forces had captured 1,700 square kilometers and 80 settlements since the start of the year.
Reuters reported at the time that it could not independently verify the claim, while pro-Ukrainian battlefield maps showed a significantly smaller Russian advance. Ukraine’s latest gains appear to be tied in part to more aggressive counteroffensive actions in the south and southeast, as well as the expanding use of drones to strike Russian supply routes and command posts.
Ukrainian officials have increasingly made drones central to stopping Russian momentum, arguing that long-range and tactical strikes have disrupted logistics far behind the immediate front. That does not mean Ukraine is out of danger. Russian forces continue to pressure Ukrainian lines across Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Kharkiv, and Sumy regions.
Moscow has also kept up large-scale missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure, forcing Kyiv to divide resources between frontline operations and air defense. But it is still a small share of the Ukrainian land occupied by Russia, which continues to control Crimea and parts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson.
