A look at Ukraine’s costs, casualties, and battlefield map in the third year of the war.
L: On February 21, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized the independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics in the Donbas region, criticizing the West’s indifference to Moscow’s security concerns. Three days later, on Thursday, February 24, Putin launched what he called a “special operation” against Ukraine, turning tense Moscow-Kiev relations into a military confrontation. The war is still ongoing and has entered its fourth year.
Russia’s Superiority on the Battlefield
On the third anniversary of the Ukrainian war, the battlefield map continues to change. In recent months, Russian forces have made advances in eastern Ukraine, especially in the western regions of Donetsk.
The Russian army has captured the towns of Kurakhove and Selidove and is advancing towards the city of Pokrovsk. However, the pace of these advances has slowed in the winter. Last month (January 2025), Russia was capturing an area the size of Manhattan Island every 6 days on average, a relatively slow pace compared to previous months.
This month (February), reports indicate that Russian forces have changed their offensive priorities and are focusing on Kostyantynivka instead of Pokrovsk.
On the northern front, Russian forces have been trying to eliminate the Ukrainian military presence in Russia’s Kursk Oblast. The area was captured by Ukraine last summer and now Ukraine and its Western allies, who are in a weak position and under heavy pressure, claim that Russia is trying to retake the area, using reinforcements, including North Korean forces.
Heavy casualties of the three-year war
On the third anniversary of the Ukrainian war, the number of casualties is still being debated and examined. These figures are variable and sometimes contradictory due to differences in sources and information limitations.
The last time the Ukrainian side acknowledged this was in December this year when the country’s President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that 43,000 Ukrainian soldiers had died. He also announced in a post on social media that another 370,000 had been wounded in the war, although this figure includes soldiers who were wounded more than once.
It is worth noting that despite Russia’s superiority in the three-year war, Zelensky claimed that 198,000 Russian soldiers had also been killed in the war and another 550,000 wounded.