In May, Russia lost more territory in Ukraine than it gained, for the second consecutive month, according to the Institute for the Study of War, Agence France-Presse reported, BTA reported.
According to the Washington-based think tank, Ukrainian armed forces regained 282 square kilometers (sq. km) in May. In April, they regained 120 sq. km, according to American analysts.
The Institute for the Study of War published these statistics amid claims by the Ukrainian army that it had recently regained hundreds of square kilometers of territory, mostly in the Dnipropetrovsk region, near the administrative borders with Donetsk and Zaporizhia regions, to the east.
Previously, the Russian armed forces had been steadily gaining ground since October 2023, but the pace of their advance slowed at the end of last year. For comparison, according to the Institute, they captured 579 sq km in November, and only 23 sq km in March of this year (according to preliminary statistics, Russia had already lost more territory in March than it had captured).
Although Ukraine's gains in April and May are insignificant on a national scale (0.07% of the country's entire internationally recognized territory and 0.4% of the area occupied by Russia), they reflect a trend that is positive for Kiev's forces, AFP notes. It comes in addition to what appears to be a successful Ukrainian strategy of striking targets deep inside Russian territory, particularly energy infrastructure, using advanced drones with longer ranges.
More than 4 years and 3 months into the war, which began with its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia controls just over 19% of its neighboring country's territory, including the 7% that was under its control (the Crimean peninsula in the south) or in the hands of pro-Russian separatists (part of the eastern industrial region of Donbas). It captured most of the remaining 12% it controls in the first weeks of the war, according to Agence France-Presse.