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4 April, 12:43
Military news

Russian troops record no territorial gains in Ukraine in March, first time since 2023

Ukraine over the past month, for the first time since September 2023, Agence France-Presse has reported, citing the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War, ISW.

According to the report Russian army’s advances have slowed down since late 2025 due to Ukraine’s localised counteroffensives in southeast. Thus, over the past month, Russia was able to capture only 23 sq km, including during infiltration operations beyond the frontline as well as advances claimed by Moscow but not confirmed by the ISW. By comparison, Russian army had advanced 319 sq km in January, 123 sq km in February, which then marked the slowest advance since April 2024. This slowdown in Russian advances has to do with Ukraine’s counteroffensives as well as the blocking of Russians’ use of Starlink terminals in Ukraine and restriction of Telegram app, which was used for communication between Russian troops in the frontline. The blocking of Telegram has delivered a heavy blow to Russia’s military operations.

Apart from being slow in advancing in the frontline, the Russian army has also lost territory in some areas. Thus, in February, Russia lost ground on the southern section of the frontline, between the Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions.

The situation has been the opposite among the Ukrainian army, which made considerable progress in March, by recapturing more ground from Russia than losing it. Ukrainian forces made a modest territorial advance in March, reclaiming a net total of 27 square kilometers along the 1,200-kilometer front line of the Russo-Ukrainian War. According to a March 31 assessment by the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War, this marked the first time since at least October that Ukraine achieved a net gain in recaptured territory. The result was consistent with Kyiv Post’s own research conducted over the same period.

It should be note that Russia occupies about 20% of Ukrainian sovereign territory. March 2026 is the second month in a row that Russia has lost more territory than it has gained in Ukraine.