
Russia’s costly gains in Ukraine portend a protracted, deadly stalemate
Four years after Russia launched its invasion, Moscow controls about 75,000 sq km of eastern Ukraine, with an estimated 367 Russian casualties per 100 sq km gained. CSIS puts Russian battlefield casualties at about 1.2 million since 2022 (roughly 26,000 per month), while Ukrainian fatalities are far lower (roughly 100,000–140,000). Frontline dynamics have shifted to small land grabs and stalemated fronts, concentrated in Donbas and towns like Pokrovsk and Kupiansk, as Kyiv seeks reversals and Moscow presses on with costly, high-casualty tactics. Zelenskiy has urged higher Ukrainian lethality to stretch Moscow’s resources, even as peace talks stall and both sides endure immense human and material costs.





