Defense Forces have liberated 800 sq. km since start of 2026 – Zelenskyy
Russia has seized 890 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory since the beginning of 2026, while Ukraine’s Defense Forces have liberated 800 sq. km over the same period.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this in an interview with The Wall Street Journal during his visit to the United States, Censor.NET reports.
Ukraine’s successes
According to Zelenskyy, Russian forces have captured a total of 90–100 sq. km more than Ukrainian defenders have liberated on various fronts.
He said this was significantly less than in previous years, when Russia occupied around 3,000–4,000 sq. km annually. As a result, "almost everything is at a standstill" for the Russian army on the battlefield, he believes.
Russian losses
For those 90–100 sq. km, the Russian army has lost around 260,000–270,000 soldiers since the start of the year. But, Zelenskyy said, "human losses do not mean defeat" for Moscow.
"The situation on the battlefield is not a success for [Russian dictator Vladimir] Putin. He is neither winning nor losing, but his society is losing people and money. And this is nothing — 100 kilometers between us — such a high price," the president said.
The head of state sees the problem as Putin’s generals not sharing accurate battlefield information with him. This is one reason why Putin still does not believe the war against Ukraine should be stopped.
- As a reminder, on August 12, Zelenskyy said that from January 29 through August this year, the Defense Forces had liberated 745 sq. km, bringing 26 settlements in Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions back under Ukrainian control.
- The Third Army Corps recently reported on Operation Vivaldi in the Lyman area. As part of the operation, 125 sq. km of territory were returned to Ukrainian control, and at least eight settlements were liberated.
