INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Russia in November made its largest monthly territorial gains in the war in Ukraine given that March 2022, according to an AFP analysis of
data from the United States Institute for the Study of War (ISW) on Monday.Kremlin forces advanced over 725 square kilometers of Ukrainian
area, mainly in the east near the city of Pokrovsk up from 610 square kilometers in October and comparable to the size of Singapore.Pokrovsk
a rail and road hub lies in the Donetsk area, which represents almost 90% of Russian territorial gains in November (629 square kilometers)
The Ukrainian army now controls less than a third of the region compared to more than 40% on Jan
1 this year.In current weeks, Russian troops claimed to have recorded a number of places to the south and east of the city and are now
within five kilometers of it.The advance has actually accelerated given that the end of the spring
Consisting of November, the overall Russian gains in Ukraine was 3,500 square kilometers six times more than in the whole of 2023
The last time Russia made higher gains in Ukraine in such a brief time remained in March 2022 after the launch of its full-scale intrusion a
number of weeks earlier.In March of that year, Russian operations in the north of Ukraine saw it control 45,426 square kilometers and
threaten to take control of the capital, Kyiv.Since hostilities began on Feb
24, 2022, Russia has taken 68,500 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory, the information indicated.With Crimea, annexed in 2014, and
areas in the Donbas region managed by separatists before Russias major invasion, Moscow currently controls 18.4% of pre-2014 Ukrainian
territory.AFP estimations are based on files communicated daily by the ISW, which depends on openly readily available information shared by
both sides and satellite imagery analysis.
