Ukraine-Russia war: who wins?
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Ukrainian forces have made rapid advances in recent days and retaken territory in eastern Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Lugansk region.
However, Russian forces still hold about a fifth of the country.
On February 24, Russia invaded Ukraine by besieging the capital of Ukraine, Kiev. He also organized attacks in the south, east and north of the country.
In early April, Ukrainian forces retook large swathes of territory around Kyiv after Russia gave up its advance on the capital.
Since then, Russia has concentrated its military operations in the south, east and north-east of Ukraine and seized large areas.
But at the beginning of September, the situation changed dramatically.
In a decisive offensive in the northeast, Ukraine repulsed Russian forces. It claims to have reclaimed 3,000 square kilometers (1,158 square miles) of territory around the city of Kharkiv alone.
His forces also regained their positions in Luhansk, eastern Ukraine. Since July, the region has been completely occupied by Russia.
In total, Ukraine claims to have recaptured more than 8,000 km2 of territory from Russian control in September, its biggest territorial gain since the start of the war.
The cities of Izyum and Kupyansk, which Ukraine said it had recaptured on September 10, were both major supply hubs for Russian forces. Thus, these represent important strategic gains.
Ukraine is carrying out a counter-attack around the Kherson region in the south of the country. The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reports that Ukrainian troops have inflicted a “major operational defeat” on Russian forces.
Justin Bronk of the Royal United Services Institute said Russia’s positions in Kharkiv had “completely collapsed”.
Russia’s withdrawal, he said, “is certainly the most dramatic failure we’ve seen from the Russians since they left Kiev in April.”
He confirmed that Russian forces retreated from Izyum and Kupyansk. He said it was a strategic retreat to “regroup”.
He also said that he will continue to target these areas with military strikes.
It appears that the Russian army left behind a large amount of equipment and ammunition during the retreat.
How much territory does Russia still occupy?
According to ISW, Russia still owns about 20% of Ukraine.
The areas are mainly in the eastern Donbass region and southern mainland Ukraine, as well as the Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014.
Donbass is a predominantly Russian-speaking region, and since Russia seized Crimea in 2014, pro-Russian forces have occupied more than a third of the region.
There he created two so-called people’s republics.
Areas in the west of the country, including Lviv, were subjected to rocket attacks, but there were no attempts by Russian forces to occupy or occupy the area.
What does Russia want?
Russia refuses to recognize its occupation as a war and states that it is carrying out a “special military operation” in Ukraine.
The Kremlin said that the operations will continue “until all tasks that were initially set are fulfilled.”
When the invasion began in February, President Vladimir Putin said that his goal was to “demilitarize Ukraine.”
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One of the goals was to ensure that Ukraine did not join NATO, the Western defense alliance.
Russia’s original goal was to invade Ukraine and overthrow the government.
However, he now appears to have limited his ambitions to securing land in eastern and southern Ukraine.
What does Ukraine want?
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that his main goal is to withdraw all Russian troops and “occupy our entire territory.”
Mr. Zelensky requested additional funding and equipment from Russia to maintain the retaken territories.
Western arms supplies are widely used by Ukrainian forces.
How many people died?
Both sides reported losses, but neither gave exact figures.
Ukraine claims to have killed more than 50,000 Russian soldiers and has said it has lost nearly 9,000 since the conflict began in late August.
Russia rarely discloses the deaths of its soldiers. His latest death toll was in March, when he said 1,351 Russian soldiers had died since the invasion began.
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By July, US officials estimated that around 15,000 Russian soldiers had died.
Civilians were also killed. In early September, the United Nations confirmed more than 5,700 deaths.
However, the UN said the actual number would be significantly higher.
