Putin’s army seizing land at one of its fastest rates since initial invasion almost four year ago, research suggests
07 December 2025
Russia is gaining territory in Ukraine at one of the fastest rates since the war began, new data show, ahead of an emergency Downing Street summit.
The Kremlin’s army seized 200 square miles of territory in November, up from 100 square miles the previous month, according to DeepState, a trusted Ukraine-based battlefield map.
The speed of advance was approaching the fastest since the initial invasion almost four years ago, the Institute for the Study of War, a US think tank, said.
Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s leader, will meet with Sir Keir Starmer on Monday. They will be joined by Emmanuel Macron, of France, and Freidrich Merz, of Germany.
Ahead of the talks, on Sunday night the Élysée insisted Ukraine was not “on the brink of collapse”.
A spokesman said European leaders must commit to backing Ukraine in the long term, in the event that the latest peace talks with Donald Trump failed.
“Ukraine is holding its own and doing even better than that. Ukraine is not on the brink of collapse,” they said.
“If we cannot immediately reach a peace agreement with Russia, it is essential that we give Ukraine all the support it needs so that it does not lose ground due to a lack of support.”
Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, has said he will seize the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine either by force or through negotiation.
A plan to end the war, drawn up with Donald Trump’s administration, involved Ukraine handing over vast tracts of land. Ukraine and Europe have rejected the proposals.
The gains in territory risk helping to persuade Mr Trump that peace should be set on Russia’s terms, and that sending weapons and aid to Kyiv was a waste.
Russia is also moving forward around the small eastern city of Siversk in Donetsk as part of its broader push towards the “fortress city” of Sloviansk.
On Sunday, Russian Telegram reports suggested Moscow’s forces had seized the residential areas to its north, using small groups of infiltrators to get behind Ukrainian lines, a tactic employed with success in Pokrovsk.
Ukraine’s military reported fierce battles were ongoing. Half of the city was within the contested zone, according to DeepState.
On Saturday night, Mr Zelensky said he had a “long and substantive phone call” with Steve Witkoff, the White House’s Russia envoy, and Jared Kushner, Mr Trump’s son-in-law who is assisting the negotiations.
Shortly after the call, Putin launched a deadly missile and drone barrage aimed at Ukrainian cities and critical infrastructure, including train stations.
European leaders have been scrambling as support for Ukraine wanes and the Trump administration turns its attention away from the conflict.
Mr Trump’s son, Donald Jr, said in a Middle East conference that his father could walk away from the peace talks.
But Keith Kellogg, the outgoing US envoy to Ukraine, said a deal was “really close”. Ukrainian and US negotiators also issued a joint statement calling on Russia to show a “serious commitment to long-term peace”, sowing confusion about the prospect of a deal.
The hastily arranged summit appears to be an attempt to ensure Ukraine is not “betrayed” during the US-led peace process with Russia – a fear Mr Macron alluded to earlier this week.
The Élysée said: “What’s very good about the current phase is that the consultations with the Ukrainians are also very intense. And it’s good, indeed, that the Americans are hearing from the Ukrainians what is possible and what isn’t.
“And once that’s established, the essential thing is for the Americans to get commitments from the Russians that make negotiations … credible.”
The talks follow the release of Mr Trump’s national security strategy report on Friday that spelt out the long-term US posture in stark detail.
The document accused Europe of blocking peace in Ukraine and also tweaked language from previous versions of the document by dropping wording that described Russia as a direct threat.
Moscow welcomed the changes, saying the adjustments were “largely consistent” with its own vision.
‘No immediate collapse’
In recent weeks, Russian forces have advanced on several fronts. Pokrovsk, a former rail and logistics hub in eastern Ukraine, looks poised to fall imminently after a long and costly battle, while its nearby town of Myrnohrad is close to being encircled.
After Ukraine deployed some of its best brigades and drone units to hold Pokrovsk, Russian forces have been able to stretch Kyiv’s resources along the 630-mile front, opening up vulnerabilities in the south-east and further north.
As a result, Moscow has made steady gains in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia and is close to capturing the northeastern city of Kupiansk, a vital stronghold that has been under attack for two years.
However, the figures appear worse than the reality on the battlefield, said Emil Kastehelmi, a military analyst with the Finland-based Black Bird Group.
“There have been no grand breakthroughs… no immediate collapse of the Ukrainian front lines at the moment,” he told The Telegraph. “Russia has been unable to decisively break the front in any direction.”
Referring to Russia’s recent advances in the south-east, he argued that if Ukraine had to lose land, that would be the preferred place.
“Russia would have to have a huge amount more success to achieve something significant there; it has just captured small village after small village and many fields. These developments do not endanger the whole front for now,” Mr Kastehelmi added.
Advance expected to slow
Analysts believe it could still take Russia several years to take the rest of the Donbas – the prize Putin most seeks and which is heavily protected by the “fortress cities” of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.
As winter sets in, the rate of Russia’s advance is expected to slow. And yet, in a signal to Washington, Putin has ordered the Russian military to prepare for winter combat – suggesting he will not soften his territorial demands.
Russia, which controls 19.2 per cent of Ukraine, is demanding Kyiv surrender the entire Donbas region, according to the peace plan co-authored by Washington and Moscow last month. It also wants Ukraine to be banned from joining Nato and to significantly reduce its military.
The proposals provoked uproar in Kyiv and elsewhere in Europe, which together lobbied for a watered-down alternative proposal which was rejected by Putin last week, leaving talks once more at an impasse.
On Sunday, Russia’s defence ministry claimed control of two villages: Kucherivka in the Kharkiv region and Rivne in Donetsk.
The Telegraph was unable to independently verify Russia’s most recent claimed advances, and Ukraine has not yet commented, but it follows confirmed advances in both regions.
Trolls are very active on this thread. Here are just a few:
Philippe Faye
Funny, the official version in Europe is that the Russians are on their last legs… how can we ever trust institutions that keep on lying through their teeth?
Tony Chambers
Reply to Philippe Faye –
Less and less of us do.
Remember down when this war first kicked off in 2022 ? Everyone was gung ho about it and how we should be helping poor little innocent Ukraine against the evil Vlad.
Not any more. The Kiev chiseler has been found out and slowly but surely people have come around to the fact that everything is not as it seems and maybe, just maybe the evil Vlad may not be so evil after all and maybe he does have a point…
Mary Jane
Reply to Tony Chambers
Sure he has a point, he wants russian empire back.
Paul Drury
Trump junior tells us that the will of the people is not with EU or Ukraine, and the US is not the idiot with a chequebook.
Rakesh Aggarwal
Europe had 3 years to push for peace. They chose more weapons, more escalation, and zero diplomacy.
Now that Trump pushes negotiations, Europe is suddenly “worried” and sabotaging the process.
Where were they before?
Europe is protecting politics, not peace.
Rakesh Aggarwal
Zelensky or Europe is not willing to give Donbas region and Russia will take it by force.
Why are these monkeys doing an entertainment dance?
Lord wilshaw
Reply to Rakesh Aggarwal
It is easy to analyse your use of English to realise you are russian.
There are many, many more vermin like the above posting at present.
Here are some more decent ones :
Up The North
If Ukraine fails in its defence of its land Europe and America are to blame. Europe mainly. America walked away when trump arrived. Trump hates Ukraine and loathes Zelensky. Why Europe thinks trump will help Ukraine is beyond me. He is a Russian asset and does as putin tells him.
Wensleydale Cheese
DT swallowing Russian propaganda once again.
Ukrainians hold and are pushing back in Pokrovsk.
GRAHAM REEVE
Reply to Wensleydale Cheese –
The Russian propagandists on here were claiming Pokrovsk had already fallen completely a month ago but that western media (including the DT) were apparently all in on a big conspiracy to hide that “fact” from us. It’s like how those same lot were calling claims of North Koreans fighting for Russia as “fake news” for months!
Hairy Plotter
Reply to Wensleydale Cheese
ruzzki’s 1435th motor rifle regiment has been trapped south of Pokrovsk more than 3 weeks now since AFU Took out the bridge (Just South of Pokrovsk’s M-30:-)
Anthony Pryer
The west should enable Ukraine to attack with missiles all the power plants surrounding Moscow and St Petersburg. Only when those cities are without heat and light will the consequences of this war begin to touch the elite.
David Walker
Very misleading headline. Like saying the British made rapid advances in the Battle of the Somme. In truth, no-one knows which side will collapse first. The collapse may be very sudden, and caused by one or a multiplicity of reasons, some of which can be foreseen, others unexpected. But my money is definitely on Russia to collapse first.
Karen Kirby
Scary headlines DT but what does it really mean? Since the start of the invasion Russia has occupied around just 20% of Ukraine with an estimate it would take over 70 yrs to occupy the rest. ‘Russia rapidly gaining territory’ does this mean 50 years at the increased pace?. Wow hardly worth the headline.
James Carker
Reply to Karen Kirby
Gaining territory now is not the issue. Ukraine is running out of money, soldiers, and armaments. As Russia continues to wear down Ukraine via attrition, the territorial gains will come more quickly.
Matt Forster
7 HRS AGO
Germany should immediately give Ukraine the Taurus missiles. The UK and France should immediately raise their support to Ukraine to at least match the level of the largest per capita donors: Estonia, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Latvia and Lithuania.
Europe should immediately declare total economic war on Russia: no investments, no trade, no transactions at all.
The cost for Europe will be infinitely higher if Ukraine is lost.
Max Kelada
After almost a year, Russia has had tens of thousands of casulaties in its failed attempt to capture Pokrovsk. Uktaine’s strategy has been to trade land for russian casualties. And Russia has still failed to take Pokrovsk ! Russia has suffered catastropic loses of tanks and armoured vehicles compelling Russian commanders to send their soldiers out on golf carts and motorbikes. We can’t even call Pokrovsk a Pyrrhic victory because russia has failed to take the city.
The russian economy is crumbling under the weight of global sanctions and Ukrainian drone sanctions on Russian oil infrastructure. The russian govt has been forced to sell over half its gold reserves to keep funding the war because its oil revenue ha been smashed. Simultaneously the russian govt can no longer afford to pay huge recruitment bonuses so it has tranferred the responsibility to regional governments who have substantially reduced the size of these bonuses. Recruitment numbers have dropped substantially because of this and the growing realization amongst ordinary russians that joining the russian army is a death sentence. When the EU finally agrees on a huge loan to Ukraine of tens on bilions of euros, funded by russian assets it will seal russia’s doom.
The troll farms have seized on a comment from Yulia Mendel that may or may not be fabricated:
Charles Marx
A sobering comment from Iuliia Mendel, Zelensky’s former Press Secretary, regarding this ever-increasingly pointless war:
“Every subsequent deal for Ukraine will only be worse — because we are losing. We are losing people, territory, and the economy. The EU (which by the way has paid Russia more than €311 billion for energy and goods since February 2022) has no real strategy, no way to stop fuelling Russian budget or support Ukraine enough to win, no direct dialogue with Moscow, and no meaningful leverage over either the Kremlin or Washington.
Arguments that “Russia has gained so little land” sound almost childish when you consider the human cost. We have lost more people in three years than some European nations have as the whole population. My country is bleeding out. Many who reflexively oppose every peace proposal believe they are defending Ukraine. With all respect, that is the clearest proof they have no idea what is actually happening on the front lines and inside the country right now. War is not a Hollywood movie.
I will never abandon the values that God and democracy both place at the very foundation of human existence: human life is the highest good, and people — living, breathing people — are the ones who must be saved.”
GRAHAM REEVE
Reply to Charles Marx –
Just a heads up– I have a son who studies the trends and patterns among the various Russian propaganda farms and he flagged that post to me specifically as one to watch out for as the propaganda farms have jumped on it. The data on where, how frequently, and by whom it’s being referenced is shocking! I’m not saying hers is an illegitimate opinion, but it’s currently actively being used against Ukraine. How did you learn about that particular post out of interest? Again, I have no reason to think Iuliia Mendel isn’t being genuine– but the way her post is being used by the propaganda farms is certainty not!
“Russia, which controls 19.2 per cent of Ukraine, is demanding Kyiv surrender the entire Donbas region, according to the peace plan co-authored by Washington and Moscow last month.”
It’s a pity the Telegraph didn’t remind their readers that in March 2022, russia controlled 29% of Ukraine.