Kyiv, Ukraine. Ukrainian forces have recaptured more than 600 square km of territory so far this year, Ukraine’s top military commander Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Monday. The statement points to a possible shift in battlefield momentum after years of gradual Russian advances.
Reported territorial gains
Syrskyi said on the Telegram messaging app that in May alone, Ukraine recaptured 100 square km more territory than it lost.
He did not specify where the gains took place, saying only that in certain sections of the 1,200 km frontline, Ukrainian forces continued to maintain the initiative.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy also said last month that Ukraine had recaptured around 600 square km in 2026.
Verification and battlefield assessments
Reuters was not able to verify the assertions. Independently determining lines of territorial control in Ukraine is difficult because drone warfare has created a wide no-man’s land along the front.
Independent groups that map the battlefield have also reported that Russia’s total advances have slowed or reversed in recent months, the first such pattern since a failed Ukrainian counter-offensive in 2023.
Frontline conditions
Syrskyi said Russian forces were still trying to advance in eastern and southern Ukraine. He said the number of daily battlefield clashes has increased substantially and described the frontline situation as difficult and dynamic.
The area around the eastern city of Pokrovsk, which Russia has been trying to capture fully since mid-2024, was among the most intense areas of fighting, he said.
DeepState, an independent Ukrainian battlefield map, has shown Pokrovsk as fully held by Russia for weeks. Russia said it had captured the city last December.
Syrskyi also identified the Oleksandrivka and Huliaipole areas in the southeast and south as places where the heaviest fighting was taking place.
Wider context
In the first months after Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, Ukrainian forces recaptured large areas in a series of counterstrikes.
However, a major Ukrainian counter-offensive failed in 2023, and Moscow has since made gradual gains.
