The Russian offensive in June accelerated for the third month in a row and became the largest since November last year, AFP reported citing an analysis of data from the US Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

According to these data, the Russian army occupied 588 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory in June. For comparison: in May - 507 square kilometers, in April - 379 square kilometers, and in March - 240 square kilometers. In winter, the pace of Moscow's advance slowed considerably.

For the entire period of the war, which began in February 2022, Russian forces showed greater progress only in October (610 square kilometers) and November (725 square kilometers) 2024.

Two-thirds of the June captured territories are in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine - this is where the main fighting has been taking place for the past two years. Moscow now controls fully or partially about three-quarters of the Donetsk region, up from 61% a year ago.

However, according to ISW, Russia has also made notable gains in other regions of Ukraine over the past year, totaling about 200 square kilometers.

On June 8, the Russian army announced an offensive in the industrial Dnipropetrovsk region and entered there for the first time in three years of invasion. However, its control in this region is currently limited to only 8 square kilometers. The Ukrainian military, for its part, denies that Russian forces are entrenched in the Dnipropetrovsk region.

The Russian Army has also increased its presence in northeastern Sumy Oblast. Russian troops have been absent from this region since April 2022 due to redeployment to the eastern front, but they returned this spring and have occupied nearly 320 square kilometers since the beginning of 2025, including 130 in the last month.

Overall, Russia has seized nearly 5,500 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory in the past 12 months (July 2024 to June 2025). For comparison, for the previous similar period - only 1,215 square kilometers.