Ukraine is trying to inflict not less than 200 Russian casualties for each sq. kilometer Moscow captures.
Its forces have hit this goal in current months as they stymy Russian battlefield advances.
Ukraine’s protection chief attributed this to its mid-range strikes and Russia’s lack of Starlink.
Ukraine is aiming to inflict not less than 200 Russian casualties for each sq. kilometer that Moscow captures on the battlefield. Good points have change into more and more pricey for Russian forces in current months.
“Every kilometer of advance prices the enemy disproportionately excessive losses,” Ukrainian Protection Minister Mykhailo Fedorov lately informed reporters throughout a gathering to debate the outcomes of fight operations to this point this yr.
The Russian navy misplaced 67 troopers — killed or wounded — per sq. kilometer of advance in October 2025. This has elevated to 165 in January, 244 in February, 254 in March, and 179 in April, Fedorov mentioned, including that Moscow suffered 35,203 casualties in April alone.
“Our strategic aim is to inflict not less than 200 enemy losses for each sq. kilometer of advance,” he mentioned. “Dynamics present that Ukraine has considerably slowed the enemy’s advance and is steadily regaining the initiative. On the similar time, we’re growing lively operations and liberating territory.”
Fedorov attributed the uptick in Russian casualties to a number of components, together with Elon Musk’s choice to disable Starlink satellite tv for pc web service for Russian forces in February. Moscow has been unable to switch this functionality, permitting Ukraine to use the state of affairs on the battlefield, the protection minister added.
One other issue is Ukraine’s push to construct out an arsenal of mid-range strike drones, hitting Russian targets at an operational depth that stops its forces from finishing up assault operations on the entrance traces.
“We have now actively begun procuring mid-strike drones, which have change into one of many key technological benefits on the entrance line,” Fedorov mentioned.
Ukrainian troopers put together a drone to strike Russian positions.Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu through Getty Photographs
Analysts on the Institute for the Examine of Battle, a US-based assume tank, assessed that these developments have led to a gradual decline in Russia’s charge of advance on the battlefield since November 2025. In addition they cited repeated Ukrainian floor counterattacks as a contributing issue.
The ISW battle analysts reported in early Could that “Russian forces in April 2026 suffered a web lack of territory managed within the Ukrainian theater for the primary time” since Kyiv’s 2024 incursion into Russia’s Kursk area.
They mentioned Russia misplaced management of 116 sq. kilometers in April, although this determine doesn’t account for areas the place its troops briefly infiltrated into Ukrainian territory.
Russia occupied practically 27% of Ukraine weeks after launching its full-scale invasion in February 2022, a peak that it has since been unable to return to. 4 years later, in March 2026, this determine had dropped to under 20%, in keeping with ISW information.
Throughout that point, Russia has gathered roughly 1.3 million battlefield losses, Col. Joby Rimmer, a senior UK navy advisor, mentioned in late April.
Ukraine, against this, has suffered an estimated 500,000 to 600,000 casualties on this conflict, in keeping with the Heart for Strategic and Worldwide Research, a US-based assume tank.
Ukrainian officers have signaled their intention to more and more change people with robotic programs, together with drones, wherever doable close to the entrance traces, particularly for logistics missions.
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