3 years ago, Russia 🇷🇺 launched the Avdiivka offensive that slowly turned into the 3rd Donbas 🇺🇦 battle of the full-scale war
3 years later, the Russian offensive is still ongoing, at a much slower pace than before. 2026 was a very difficult year, and Russia failed to keep up the advance pace it had in 2024 and 2025, even suffering from 2 counterattacks in Komar and Lyman.
If the Russian offensive on the Donbas was initially centered on the southern and western direction, it moved north, with the main battle ongoing near Dobropilla. You can easily follow the chain of towns from Kurakhove, Pokrovsk and all the way to Barvinkove, behind the Donbas fortress that Russia is attacking.
At the same time, Russian advance on the Donetsk-Zaporizhzhia highway was stopped, while the one further south was slowed down.
🟥Russian control before 2024
🔴Territory taken in 2024
🟠Territory taken in 2025
🟡Territory taken in 2026
Big ⬜️ line : Donbas administrative border
Small ◽️line : main roads
What the map tells us :
-> Setbacks in 2024 and 2025 were due to multiple factors, including bad unit coordination, absence of fortifications, and a high number of Russian human resources. Since then, most of the issues have been resolved.
-> The "attritional war" narrative that should witness a slow increase of Russian gains until Ukrainian collapse didn't happen. On the contrary, Russia is advancing slower and slower, and Russian losses are increasing.
Every time someone is saying Russia is definitely winning the war, show them this map and ask why the "2nd most powerful army in the world" is struggling that much in Donbas while losing more and more men.