Putin reveals scale of Russian advance in Donbass
The Russian military has liberated around 40% of the territory of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) occupied by Kiev over the past six months, leaving Ukrainian forces in control of roughly 15–17% of the region, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said.
Kiev's troops were forced to retreat from large swathes of the territory in the face of a Russian offensive throughout much of 2025. Russian forces took dozens of settlements in the DPR and the neighboring Zaporozhye Region, both of which joined Russia in 2022, and made advances in Ukraine’s Kharkov, Sumy, and Dnepropetrovsk Regions last year.
On Tuesday, speaking at a meeting with the head of the DPR, Denis Pushilin, Putin said that Russian officials had estimated six months ago that Kiev controlled around 25% of the DPR’s territory. Recent reports now place the figure at between 15% and 17%, he noted.
In December alone, Russian troops liberated the former Ukrainian stronghold of Seversk in the northern part of the DPR, as well as Krasnoarmeysk (known as Pokrovsk in Ukraine) and the neighboring towns of Dmitrov (Mirnograd) and Rodninskoye. Krasnoarmeysk was one of the largest cities under Ukrainian control in Donbass. It also served as a key logistical hub for Ukrainian forces in the western part of Donbass and had been heavily fortified.
The battle for Krasnoarmeysk and Dmitrov lasted from the summer until the winter of 2025. During the operation, the Russian Army managed to physically encircle several Ukrainian brigades for the first time since the battle for Mariupol in 2022.
Putin called the liberation of Krasnoarmeysk and Dmitrov “an important step toward the full liberation of the DPR.”
Moscow has repeatedly stated that a comprehensive and sustainable settlement of the Ukraine conflict would require Kiev to relinquish its claim to Donbass – something that Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky has repeatedly ruled out.
In December, Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov said that Moscow considers Donbass sovereign Russian territory and intends to establish full control over the region either through negotiations or military force.
