Casualties on the Front Lines

Putin Sacrifices 70,000 Soldiers for a Fifth of Vienna

The city of Kostyantynivka in eastern Ukraine has been the site of fierce fighting for months. Moscow is paying a heavy price in lives for minimal gains. (File photo)(Bild: EPA/PRESS SERVICE OF THE 24 MECHANIZED BRIDGE)

In the fifth year of the war in Ukraine, Russian leader Vladimir Putin continues to believe in victory and speaks of the Russian army’s advance. However, the situation on the front lines shows that in many places the advance has stalled, and minimal territorial gains have been achieved at an extremely high cost in blood.

Russia is slowly advancing on Kostyantynivka. The city in the Donetsk region is a key stronghold in Ukraine’s eastern defensive belt. Initial fighting has reached the outskirts. Russia is repeatedly attempting to infiltrate the city, while Ukraine is doing everything it can to eliminate the invaders from a distance. The Russian army has changed its tactics during these advances: Instead of operating in small groups of three to six men, it is now sending soldiers out individually or in pairs, Ukrainian military analyst Oleksandr Kovalenko told the “Krone.”

“Russians are acting like a swarm”
“They’re now acting like a swarm. This significantly distracts Ukrainian troops and forces them to devote more resources to tracking down and neutralizing the intruders,” Kovalenko explains. As of the end of June, there were approximately 150 Russian soldiers in Kostyantynivka.

Ukrainian troops near Kostyantynivka fire on Russian positions.(Bild: AP/Iryna Rybakova)

The town of Kostyantynivka in eastern Ukraine has been the scene of fierce fighting for months. Moscow is paying a heavy price in lives for minimal gains. (File photo)(Bild: EPA/PRESS SERVICE OF THE 24 MECHANIZED BRIDGE)

Kostiantynivka is the southernmost of four key points in the defensive belt protecting the Donetsk region. This is where Russian pressure is greatest, because Putin insists on controlling the entire area before the war can end. Regarding the front further north, in the Kharkiv region, the Russian leader recently announced an alleged success: His army is less than five kilometers from Kupiansk—a city he had already declared conquered back in December 2025. 

Ukrainian Counterattacks
Here and in neighboring Kupiansk-Vuslovyi, Russia is repeatedly attempting to gain a foothold, according to military expert Kovalenko. So far, however, they have been unable to secure any positions and are suffering “significant losses” at the hands of the Ukrainian army, which has launched counterattacks in Dvorichna, north of Kupiansk. “Consequently, it has become increasingly difficult for the Russians to simultaneously hold their positions and attempt to infiltrate Kupjansk,” said Kovalenko.

In southern Ukraine as well, defenders are intensifying their counterattacks. Russia is losing ground. Only around the city of Khulyaypole have the invaders continued intensive attacks and expanded their sphere of influence. “However, the advance is purely tactical in nature and limited to a small sector 15 kilometers long,” the analyst emphasized. Along the borders of the Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, and Donetsk regions, Ukraine is also launching counterattacks, causing Russian troops to lose individual positions. Kovalenko expects further Ukrainian recaptures this summer.

“Offensive Has Practically Failed”
While the situation in the Donetsk region remains difficult, Russia is making no overall progress: “The Russian spring offensive has effectively failed, and the summer offensive is getting off to an unsuccessful start,” Kovalenko summarizes. While Putin’s troops advanced 450 to 500 square kilometers each month during the spring and summer of last year, they captured only 81 square kilometers in May and June of 2026. That is less than one-fifth the area of Vienna (415 km²).

According to the Ukrainian General Staff, the Russian army lost more than 70,000 soldiers—killed or wounded—during the same period. “This is one of the worst ratios of casualties to minimal territorial gains on the battlefield,” says military analyst Kovalenko.

Russia is no longer capable of carrying out an effective offensive.

Oleksandr Kovalenko, Militäranalyst der Gruppe „Information Resistance“

Bild: zVg

Drones Halt Advance
In his view, the troops loyal to Moscow are in a critical situation, which is further exacerbated by Ukrainian attacks on supply routes. Strikes by medium-range combat drones, which have a range of about 200 kilometers, were decisive in the failure of the Russian spring offensive. Largely thanks to Ukrainian drones, the Russian advance has been halted on many sections of the front, and Russia is “no longer capable of carrying out a full-scale, high-quality, and effective offensive.”