Russian Occupation Area Increased by Less Than 6 Square Kilometers in a Week – DeepState

The Ukrainian defense forces have made significant strides in their ongoing military operations, successfully liberating 6.84 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory over the past week. This reclaiming of land occurred particularly in the regions surrounding the village of Ambarne in the Kupiansk district of Kharkiv Oblast and the village of Shakhove in the Pokrovsk district of Donetsk Oblast. However, despite these notable achievements, the total area of Russian occupation has only increased by 5.77 square kilometers, a stark contrast to the figures reported in previous weeks. These insights were shared through the maps of the OSINT project DeepState.

Key territorial gains by Russian forces over the past week were primarily observed in the vicinity of the village of Pishchane, located to the east of Kupiansk. Here, the occupiers managed to capture 7.73 square kilometers, although the area of their penetration has decreased by 3.75 square kilometers. Additionally, 5.59 square kilometers were seized in the area of the village of Hrabovske in the Krasnopil community of Sumy Oblast, where the zone of penetration was reduced by 0.89 square kilometers. It is noteworthy that there had been no observed advance by enemy forces in either of these directions during the week prior.

In Donetsk Oblast, a critical front in the conflict, Russian forces were able to seize only 6.22 square kilometers of territory last week. In comparison, the previous week saw an encroachment of nearly 34 square kilometers. Furthermore, the area of penetration across all fronts in Donetsk Oblast decreased by 10.04 square kilometers. This reduction not only indicates the consolidation of enemy positions but also highlights the successful actions of Ukrainian defenders, who liberated and cleared areas around the village of Nova Shakhove and the neighboring city of Rodynske in the Pokrovsk direction.

The advance of Russian troops in the Huliaipole direction in the northeastern Zaporizhzhia Oblast, where 23.6 square kilometers were captured the week before, has nearly come to a halt. Conversely, in the adjacent Oleksandrivka direction in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, defense forces have continued to push back Russian occupiers, transforming approximately 7 square kilometers of occupied territory into a zone of penetration and conducting clearance operations over about 2 square kilometers. In the Zaporizhzhia direction, Ukrainian forces managed to secure control over an additional 3 square kilometers.

In the Kharkiv direction, the area of occupation decreased by 6.77 square kilometers, as defense forces launched a counteroffensive in the Ambarne area of the Kupiansk district. Thus, according to DeepState's data, the total area of Ukrainian territory under occupation increased by only 5.77 square kilometers over the week, while the zone of penetration shrank by the same amount.

Throughout the past week, occupiers advanced on average by 0.8 square kilometers per day, while the area of penetration also decreased by an average of 0.8 square kilometers daily. For context, the week prior, Russian troops had advanced by an average of 9.8 square kilometers per day.

As previously reported, in recent months of 2025, the average increase in the area of Russian occupation fluctuated between 8 to 14 square kilometers per day. However, by the end of January, the rate of growth began to decline, and by mid-February, defense forces initiated a gradual push against the enemy in the Oleksandrivka direction in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, as well as in adjacent areas of Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk Oblasts. This offensive lasted for two weeks, and in the last week of February, the total area of occupation even decreased for the first time since 2022. In March, the growth of the enemy's occupied area resumed, albeit at a slower pace.