This is its largest territorial gain in a month, since March 2022 and the first weeks of war: the Russian army advanced over 725 km2 in Ukrainian territory during the month of November, according to data from the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
The equivalent of the surface area of Singapore
Over the entire month, Russian forces thus gained the equivalent of the surface area of Singapore, i.e. more land than during the month of October (610 km2), which already marked an unprecedented advance for more than two years. and a half, especially in eastern Ukraine near the city of Pokrovsk.
The Donetsk region, in which this important rail and road junction is located, alone concentrates almost 90% of Russian advances in November (629 km2). The Ukrainian army now controls less than a third, compared to more than 40% on January 1, 2024. Moscow's forces have claimed numerous captures of localities south and east of Pokrovsk in recent weeks, and are within 5 kilometers of it.
The advance of Russian forces accelerates
The advance of Kremlin troops has accelerated since the end of spring. Including the month of November, they have progressed over more than 3,500 km2 in 2024, six times more than in the whole of 2023. The last time Russia made greater gains in Ukrainian territory in such a short time of time, it was in March 2022 (45,426 km2), when their operations extended in the north of the country to the gates of kyiv, in a phase of the conflict where the front line was much more mobile.
Since the start of the war on February 24, 2022, Russia had taken 68,050 km2 of Ukrainian territory as of November 30. With Crimea, annexed in 2014, and the Donbass territories controlled by separatists before the Russian offensive, Moscow currently controls 18.4% of the territory of Ukraine before 2014.
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