Russia in November made its largest monthly territorial gains in the war in Ukraine since March 2022, according to AFP analysis Monday of data from the US Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
Kremlin forces advanced over 725 square kilometres (280 square miles) of Ukrainian territory, mainly in the east near the city of Pokrovsk — up from 610 square kilometres in October — and equivalent to the size of Singapore.
Pokrovsk — a rail and road hub — is located in the Donetsk region, which accounts for nearly 90 percent of Russian territorial gains in November (629 sq km).
The Ukrainian army now controls less than a third of the region compared to more than 40 percent on January 1 this year.
In recent weeks, Russian troops claimed to have captured a number of places to the south and east of the city and are now within five kilometres (three miles) of it.
The advance has accelerated since the end of the spring. Including November, the total Russian gains in Ukraine was 3,500 sq km — six times more than in the whole of 2023.
The last time Russia made greater gains in Ukraine in such a short time was in March 2022 after the launch of its full-scale invasion several weeks earlier.
In March that year, Russian operations in the north of Ukraine saw it control 45,426 sq km and threaten to take control of the capital, Kyiv.
Since hostilities began on February 24, 2022, Russia has taken 68,500 sq km of Ukrainian territory, the data indicated.
With Crimea, annexed in 2014, and territories in the Donbas region controlled by separatists before Russia’s full-scale invasion, Moscow currently controls 18.4 percent of pre-2014 Ukrainian territory.
AFP calculations are based on files communicated daily by the ISW, which relies on publicly available information disseminated by both sides and satellite imagery analysis.
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