Russian forces suffered a net loss of controlled Ukrainian territories for the first time since 2024 - ISW
Kyiv • UNN
In April 2026, the Russian Federation lost 116 sq. km of territory for the first time since August 2024. The pace of Russia's advancement on the battlefield has been steadily declining since November 2025.
In April 2026, Russian forces suffered a net loss of controlled territory in the Ukrainian theater of operations for the first time since Ukraine's operation in the Kursk region of the Russian Federation in August 2024. This is reported by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), UNN reports.
Details
It is noted that last month, Russian forces lost control over 116 square kilometers of territory.
The pace of Russia's advancement on the battlefield has been steadily declining since November 2025, as continued Ukrainian ground counterattacks, Ukrainian medium-range strikes, the blocking of Russia's use of Starlink terminals in Ukraine in February 2026, and the Kremlin's restrictions on Telegram have exacerbated existing problems within the Russian armed forces
They recall that Russian forces previously increased their advancement in May and June, and question whether such trends will repeat in 2026. At the same time, the pace of Russia's advancement in 2026 has slowed compared to 2025.
Russian forces captured 1,443.35 square kilometers over the last six months (from November 2025 to April 2026) compared to 2,368.38 square kilometers captured during the same period in 2024-2025. Russian forces captured an average of 2.9 square kilometers per day during the first four months of 2026, compared to 9.76 square kilometers per day during the first four months of 2025
They add that the Kremlin partially uses Russian infiltration tactics to exaggerate control over terrain.
Russian forces use infiltration tactics partly to create the impression of continuous Russian advancement across the entire front and to support the Kremlin's cognitive warfare efforts aimed at exaggerating Russian successes. However, Russian forces do not control these infiltration zones, which are often located near Ukrainian positions in disputed "gray zones"
As a reminder
According to the OSINT project DeepState, in April the enemy occupied 11.9% less Ukrainian territory than in March, while the number of assault actions increased by 2.2%.