June 30, at 493e day of a Russian “special operation” which was supposed to last only a week or two, kyiv announced that the Ukrainian armed forces had liberated about 200 km2 since the beginning of their counter-offensive.
But at a time when the initiative is Ukrainian on an almost frozen front, the figures confirm what the maps have been saying for many long months already: in Ukraine, the area controlled by Moscow is stagnating, even after the capture of the devastated city of Bakhmout, in May 2023.
After making slow progress for several weeks, and despite the offensives announced by the Russian general staff in the spring, Moscow only controlled 17.5% of Ukrainian territory at the end of June. At the height of its advance, in March 2022, it occupied just over a quarter.