Successful counteroffensives by the Ukrainian military, such as those conducted in the Kharkiv region in September, have left Russian forces in control of less Ukrainian land than in February 2022. Full occupation of Donetsk and LuganskHe withdrew after retreating from neighboring Kharkiv.
According to an analysis of ISW data, the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 allowed the Russian army to occupy one-fifth of Ukraine, which is about 119,000 people. The total area of Ukraine is 603 thousand square km. 700 sq. km. These areas were occupied by Russia shortly after the invasion began on February 24, 2022.
In the first month of the invasion, Russia almost quadrupled what it occupied before the February 2022 offensive (the territory of Crimea, annexed in 2014 and controlled by separatists from the Lugansk and Donetsk republics). However, shortly after, Moscow decided to withdraw its forces from northern and northeastern Ukraine after a failed attempt to capture Kiev.
In the following months Kremlin army She struggled to occupy new territories with difficulty. The HEIs’ analysis shows that between the beginning of May and the end of August, 200 to 1,400 square km of Ukrainian land was destroyed per month. In September Ukrainian army It reclaimed almost all of the 6,000 square meters in the north and east of Kharkiv province. km sq., about 150 thousand people live. People.
In late September, pro-Russian authorities staged a mock referendum in Ukraine’s four occupied regions: Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia. Friday 30 September Vladimir Putin announced that he would join Russia Four Ukrainian regions have partial control over it.
Source: CNN
Date Created: Today, 18:45