(DNIPROPETROVSK, DONETSK AND ZAPORIZHZHIA REGIONS) – Ukrainian forces have liberated 745 square kilometres of Russian occupied land this year across a swathe of the southeastern front, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The operation, carried out with precision and exactly as planned, returned 26 settlements in the Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions to Ukrainian control. The villages lie along an approximately 60 kilometre stretch of the front where the borders of the three regions meet.
Zelenskyy credited the Air Assault Forces and other units for the gains achieved between January and August in the Oleksandrivka direction. He stated that Russian losses amounted to at least 9,550 personnel killed and more than 6,600 wounded, while the operation also expanded the pool of prisoners available for future exchanges.
A video released by Ukraine’s General Staff showed drone footage of troops raising the Ukrainian flag in the freed settlements. Battlefield maps produced by the Ukrainian open source group DeepState indicate that much of the area remains a grey zone not fully controlled by either side, with some portions still marked as Russian held.
The Institute for the Study of War assessed a more conservative figure of roughly 627 square kilometres liberated in the same sector. Ukrainian military commanders including Commander in Chief Mykhailo Drapatyi, Chief of the General Staff Ihor Skybiuk and Air Assault Forces commander Oleh Apostol reported the results and next steps to the president.
The advances form part of broader Ukrainian efforts to pressure Russian forces through counterattacks along sections of the 1,200 kilometre front.
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