Ukraine Maps Reveal Russian Advances Along Front Line

Russian troops are securing new, though slight, territorial gains on Ukraine’s southern and eastern fronts, even though President Volodymyr Zelensky said Moscow’s forces have been “halted.”

“The Russian advance has been halted,” Zelensky told French broadcaster BFM TV on Monday. “Our command, our military has stopped the Russian advance in eastern Ukraine.”

But the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) think tank reported in its Monday and Tuesday battlefield updates that Russian forces were still edging forwards in the areas of most intense fighting in the Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Kharkiv and Luhansk regions, as has been the case for the past several months.

“Russian forces recently made confirmed advances near Bakhmut, Avdiivka, and Donetsk City amid continued positional engagements along the entire line of contact on March 12,” the think tank wrote on Tuesday, referring to the three settlements in the eastern Donetsk region that have been the focus of regional fighting throughout the full-scale Russian invasion.

Newsweek has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry by email to request comment.

Russian troops have been seeking to exploit Ukraine’s withdrawal from the fortified settlement of Avdiivka in February, continuing their assaults as retreating Ukrainian forces attempt to establish a new defensive line on the outskirts of the devastated town.

The New York Times reported on March 9 that Russian units have been slowed by the open ground beyond Avdiivka, and their attack has lost momentum around the Donetsk villages of Berdychi, Orlivka and Tonenke.

Kyiv has reportedly drafted some of its best units to head off the Russian thrust here, including some armed with American-made armored vehicles and tanks.

Fighting continues in the northern Donetsk region around Bakhmut, taken by Russian troops in May 2023 and a focus of attacks by both sides in the subsequent months. There, the ISW reported recent Russian gains to the north of Klishchiivka, on Bakhmut’s southwestern outskirts.

Russian pro-war military bloggers also reported that Moscow’s units had “marginally advanced” near the village of Synkivka to the northeast of Kupiansk, the Kharkiv city that has long been another key target for the Kremlin since it was liberated in Ukraine’s fall 2022 counteroffensive.

To the south, Russian troops are fighting to recover ground lost to Ukraine’s underwhelming summer 2023 counteroffensive. Fighting has been fierce around settlements like Robotyne, Urozhaine and Staromaiorske.

Dmytro Lykhovyi, the spokesperson for Ukraine’s Tavriisk military grouping, told Ukrainian television on Monday that fresh Russian drives are linked to the coming presidential election. “The occupying forces need to show some result, and it is essential to return to them the territories that were de-occupied during our offensive last year,” he said.