ISW: Ukraine Has Wiped Out Nearly All of Russia's 2026 Territorial Gains

The Institute for the Study of War assessed on September 12 that Ukrainian counteroffensive operations since March 2026 have reduced Russia's net territorial gains for the year to nearly zero, marking the first sustained shift in frontline initiative since Ukraine's August 2024 Kursk incursion. ISW's map-based assessment recorded Russia seizing or infiltrating roughly 621.7 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory across all of 2026, most of which Ukrainian forces have since recaptured or contested. ISW noted that at Russia's August 2026 rate of advance, its forces would need until October 2032 to capture the remaining Ukrainian-held territory in Donetsk Oblast alone, and that neither side currently holds uncontested initiative along the front.