NBC
Since Aug. 15, Russia has been advancing at “foot pace,” gaining just 3½ square miles a day, according to an analysis Sunday by the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank.
In all, Russia has occupied only an additional 1% of territory since November 2022, war-watchers agree. Most of the 20% of Ukraine that Russia controls is made up of land seized by Russian-backed fighters after 2014, and the illegally annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Assuming it can keep up even this crawl, Russia would not capture the rest of Donetsk until at least August 2027 “and likely even longer,” the Institute for the Study of War said. And Putin is pressuring Ukraine to hand over this territory, not because it truly is a fait accompli, but merely “to save Russia significant amounts of time, effort, manpower, and resources,” it said.
