Russia conquered just under a percent of Ukraine in 2025

TT

Published 18.04

 

Areas in Ukraine under Russian control or with Russian military presence on December 1, 2025. Photo: Anders Humlebo/TT

The Russian army occupied 5,600 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory in 2025, an analysis by AFP shows. That corresponds to almost half of Skåne, but only 0.94 percent of Ukraine.

The data is based on data from the US-based think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW). They include areas that Kiev and military analysts say are controlled by Russia, as well as what the Russian army has stated.

That is more territory than Russia had captured in the previous two years combined, but significantly less than the 60,000 square kilometers it captured in the first year of its large-scale invasion in 2022.

Russia’s biggest advances last year came in November, when it captured 701 square kilometers. Ukraine was put under intense pressure in 2025, both through repeated airstrikes on cities and infrastructure and on the battlefield, where its army was forced to surrender territory.