Winter has been brutal on the battlefield and at home: relentless strikes left millions without power and heat, while fighting along the front line continued nonstop.

Ground taken back, but how much?

For the first time in almost three years Kyiv has managed to regain territory. Ukrainian officials say about 460 sq km were recovered, which they describe as roughly 10 percent of what was lost in 2025. A U.S. monitoring group gives a smaller estimate, around 257 sq km, and warns that a porous front line makes exact figures hard to pin down.

Where the advances happened

The most notable push came in the east. In Dnipropetrovsk region Ukrainian forces have driven Russian presence back to only a few towns, prompting commanders to say the region is now almost entirely under Ukrainian control. In neighbouring Zaporizhia, Kyiv reports that nine towns have been retaken since January.

These operations have produced tactical and operational effects that could complicate Russian plans for a spring-summer offensive, but military specialists stress that these gains remain limited and do not yet change the overall balance.

Why Russia is feeling the strain

  • Heavy losses at the front have eaten into Russia's pool of available troops. Ukrainian leaders say casualties have been very high, on the order of tens of thousands per month.
  • In 2025, Moscow made up shortfalls with intensive recruitment drives and big signing bonuses, sometimes approaching monthly surges of tens of thousands of new conscripts. That momentum appears to have slowed this year amid financial pressure from sanctions and donor fatigue.
  • Lower recruitment has left fewer reserves to plug gaps, giving Ukrainian counterattacks opportunities to exploit weaker sectors of the line.

New recruitment tricks and risks

Rather than call up the country en masse, authorities appear to be trying other measures. One worrying development: reports of students being pushed into drone operator training, sometimes with extra monthly payments offered if they sign up. Building drone units quickly is cheaper and less publicly explosive than full mobilisation, but it also signals pressure on manpower and morale.

Black Sea pressure

Ukraine has also been active at sea. In early March drone strikes reportedly damaged several Russian warships in a key southern port, including a vessel capable of launching long-range cruise missiles. Those ships had been moved to that harbour after major losses the previous year.

Analysts say smaller vessels can be moved inland through canals but remain vulnerable to long-range drone strikes. Larger ships rely heavily on air defences for protection — and Ukraine has shown it can threaten those defences too.

What this all means

These advances are meaningful tactically and may disrupt some Russian plans, but they are not a dramatic reversal of the conflict. Kyiv’s gains have highlighted cracks in Moscow’s ability to replenish forces and have applied pressure in the Black Sea, but both sides continue fighting in key areas, and the front remains contested.

So yes: Ukraine has made its first territorial pushback since 2023. It’s the kind of progress that matters on maps and for morale, even if the broader war is far from decided.