On the offensive! Since the beginning of the year, the Russian army has captured a Ukrainian territory the size of Luxem

Since the beginning of 2025, Russian troops have captured 2,395 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory, which is almost the size of the state of Luxembourg, which has a total area of 2,586 km², Bild wrote on Friday, July 18.

"For comparison, in 2024, Russian troops captured 3,388 square kilometers.“ km. This means that their progress is accelerating. If the trend continues, Ukraine will lose over 4,000 square meters by the end of this year,” the publication reports.

Due to a shortage of personnel, the Ukrainian command is forced to allocate only 5-10 people to defend small settlements. They have to repel attacks by enemy units numbering 20-50 Russians, Bild points out.

Even if the Russians lose half of their unit during the attack, the survivors manage to reach the goal and capture the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Earlier, the German tabloid stated that Russia is preparing a new large-scale offensive against Ukraine by the end of the summer, claiming that it will be carried out with the support of the North Korean army. At the same time, Andriy Kovalenko, director of the Center for Countering Disinformation (CDC), called the material absurd.

On July 17, CNN reported that Russia would launch an intensified summer offensive in a few days or weeks, possibly mobilizing 160,000 soldiers to the front line. The article stated that Moscow would try to take advantage of the 50-day pause before the possible imposition of sanctions by the United States.

Analysts also stated that over the past two weeks, the occupation forces had managed to strengthen their positions in the Pokrovsk, Kupyansk and Konstantinovka directions.

For his part, Andriy Kovalenko noted that the enemy offensive had not stopped.

"The intensity was changing, the Russian army was being stopped by the Defense Forces, and everything "new" in the media simply throws additional reservations on the old,“ he added.