Russia's advance in some parts of frontline 15 to 70 meters per day - CSIS
The rate of advance of the army of the aggressor country russia in some parts of the front is tens of meters per day. This emphasizes the exhausting nature of the war and the difficulty of breaking through fortifications. This is described in a report by the American Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
In the Donetsk Region, the russian advance from the currently occupied Avdiivka to Pokrovsk was about 70 meters per day. The occupiers captured Avdiivka in February 2024, in the spring and summer they quickly covered the distance to Pokrovsk, but in the fall the pace of their advance in this area of the frontline slowed down.
After capturing Avdiivka, the occupiers also focused their main efforts on the town of Chasiv Yar. The Ukrainian defense forces took advantage of the terrain, including the hills and the Siverskyi Donets-Donbas Canal, which complicated the occupiers' advance. In the summer of 2025, the Russian army took control of most of the city, but failed to completely capture it. From February 2024 to early January 2026, the average daily rate of advance of the russians in this section of the front was 15 meters
In the Kharkiv Region, the occupiers launched an offensive against Kupiansk in November 2024, when they forced the Oskil River and created a bridgehead on its right bank. Since then, they have advanced 9.5 kilometers, which is about 23 meters per day.
The russians have made more progress in the Zaporizhzhia Region. In November 2025, they intensified their offensive in the area of Huliaypol. In almost three months, they advanced about 18.5 kilometers (297 meters per day).
CSIS analysts note that in all its offensives over the past two years, russia has failed to achieve a quick breakthrough that would allow it to collapse Ukrainian defenses and capture large areas.
"This trend is illustrated by comparing the average pace of advance of major offensive operations in Ukraine since 2022 with the historical rates of World War I and II and other wars. The Russian offensive on Pokrovsk was slower than the Allied offensive in the Battle of the Somme during World War I, one of the most grueling operations of that war. Russia's offensives in the area of Kupiansk and Chasiv Yar were even less effective," the report said.
It is noteworthy that CSIS analysts also indicated in the table the offensives of the Ukrainian army. Thus, the pace of advance during the counteroffensive in the Zaporizhzhia Region in 2023 amounted to 90 meters per day.
The operation to liberate Kherson in 2022 was carried out with an average daily advance of 590 meters, and the operation in the Kursk Oblast in 2024 - at a rate of 1,250 meters.
The Ukrainian army showed the highest rate of advance during the counteroffensive in the Kharkiv Region in 2022. The military advanced at a rate of 7,400 meters per day.
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, the day before, analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said that the russian army would need about a year and a half to capture the entire territory of the Donbas.