The Russian army did not record any territorial gains in Ukraine in March – for the first time since September 2023, and has even given way in places to Kiev's forces, according to an analysis by Agence France-Presse based on data from the American Institute for the Study of War, BTA reported.
The Russian army has been slowing down since the end of 2025 under the influence of counteroffensives in the southeast of the country, advancing by 123 square kilometers in February, which already represented the weakest progress since April 2024.
Along the entire front line in March, Ukrainian forces even regained 9 square kilometers.
This figure does not include penetration operations carried out by Russian forces beyond the front line, as well as offensives announced by the Russian side, which have neither been confirmed nor denied by the Institute for the Study of War, which works in conjunction with the "Critical Threat Project", another American analytical center specializing in the study of conflicts.
The Institute for the Study of War explains this slowdown of the Russian army in recent months with the Ukrainian counteroffensive, but also with the “ban on Russia using “Starlink” terminals in Ukraine“ and with “the Kremlin's efforts to restrict access to “Telegram”.
This very popular application in Russia, including on the frontline, has been difficult to use in recent months due to blocking by the authorities, while Moscow is actively encouraging its citizens to switch to the Max platform, which the authorities present as a “national messenger service“.
As in February, Russia has lost territory in the southern section of the front line – between the Donetsk and Dnepropetrovsk regions.
Russia first entered this zone in June 2025 and at the end of January controlled over 400 square kilometers. This control shrank to 200 square kilometers in February and to 144 square kilometers in March.
On the other hand, the situation is unfavorable for Kiev further north in the Donetsk region, towards the two major regional cities of Kramatorsk and Slavyansk. East of the latter, the Kremlin's military has advanced by about 50 square kilometers in a month.
Throughout the fourth year of the conflict - 2025 - the Russian army has advanced more than in the previous 24 months.
However, this dynamic is starting to reverse: in the first three months of 2026, Russian territorial gains were half as small as in the same period in 2025.
Four years after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Moscow controls just over 19% of its territory, with most of it captured in the first weeks of the conflict.
About 7%, including Crimea and parts of the industrial Donbass region, were already under Russian control or under the control of pro-Russian separatists before the invasion in February 2022.