Russia Achieves Biggest Gain in Ukraine in Over a Year Ahead of Alaska Summit

The Russian forces achieved their biggest 24-hour advance in Ukraine more than a year, on Tuesday, a day before the looming Trump-Putin summit, based on an AFP calculation of the US-based Institute for the Study of War data.

On August 12, Russian troops captured or seized 110 square kilometers (42.5 square miles), the greatest one-day gain since late May 2024. For months, Moscow has typically taken five or six days to make similar gains, although its gains have gathered pace in recent weeks.

US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are to meet in Alaska on Friday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed on Tuesday that Russian forces had moved as far as 10 kilometres (six miles) to the east of the coal-mining town of Dobropillia, but promised Kyiv would see them "off soon." Russia, on the other hand, said it had taken two villages close to Dobropillia on Wednesday.

Approximately 70 percent of Russia’s advances in Ukraine this year have occurred in the Donetsk region, which Moscow claims to have annexed in September 2022. As of August 12, Russia controlled or claimed control over 79 percent of Donetsk, up from 62 percent a year ago.

The Russian military has also been trying to seize the mining town of Pokrovsk for over 18 months since it seized Bakhmut in May 2023. Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, the last two major cities remaining in Kyiv's hands in the area, are still vulnerable, with Kramatorsk being an important logistical center for the front.

AFP's modelling demonstrates that Russian gains have grown month by month since April. From August 12, 2024, to August 12, 2025, Moscow took over over 6,100 square kilometres—four times as much territory as it had gained the year before.

In spite of this, Russian gains represent under 1 percent of pre-war Ukraine, Crimea, and Donbass, and Russia now holds full or partial control over 19 percent of Ukrainian land.