Ukraine retakes 172 sq km in Donetsk, AFP analysis says

Ukrainian troops regained 172 square kilometres of territory in the Donetsk region during a September counteroffensive, according to an AFP analysis of Institute for the Study of War data.

The operation, called “Vivaldi”, was launched in September to push Russian forces back from Sloviansk and Kramatorsk. The area retaken in Donetsk is more than 1.5 times the size of Paris.

President Volodymyr Zelensky visited troops this week near Lyman, about 10 kilometres north of Sloviansk. ISW data showed Ukrainian advances north and south of Lyman.

The analysis also found small Ukrainian gains in Kharkiv region, with seven square kilometres retaken, Dnipropetrovsk with 12 square kilometres and Lugansk with 13 square kilometres.

Russia made gains elsewhere, taking 104.5 square kilometres in Zaporizhzhia and 20 square kilometres in Sumy, according to the same data.

Overall, Ukraine made a net territorial gain of 80 square kilometres in September, the analysis found. It was the first Ukrainian net gain in three months and only the sixth month since early 2023 in which Ukraine gained more ground than it lost against Russia.

The armies remain largely deadlocked along a long frontline where explosive-laden drones complicate movement on both sides. Moscow controls more than 19 percent of Ukrainian territory, including Crimea and parts of Donbas that were already under Russian or pro-Russian separatist control before Russia's February 2022 invasion.

According to ISW data, Russia has advanced by an average of 15.5 square kilometres a month since January, down from an average of about 405 square kilometres a month in 2025. The ISW estimates exclude territorial gains claimed by Russia that the institute has not been able to confirm or refute.

Diplomatic efforts to end the war remain at a standstill. Moscow demands that Ukraine cede territory it still controls in areas Russia claims to have annexed, while Kyiv says those demands would amount to capitulation and leave the country vulnerable to another attack.

The United Nations says civilian casualties have recently reached their highest level since the early months of the war, mainly because of Russian missile and drone attacks on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities.