The area of Ukrainian territory occupied by Russian invaders shrank last week for the third time this year thanks to counteroffensive actions by the Defense Forces in Synelnyky district of Dnipropetrovsk region, and the enemy's pace of advance in Donetsk region has significantly slowed, according to maps from the DeepState OSINT project.
In Dobropillia, Kostiantynivka, and Slovyansk directions of Donetsk region, the enemy captured only 17.33 square kilometers last week, compared to 26.7 square kilometers the week before.
However, along the border between Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions, 43.37 square kilometers moved from the occupation zone to the so-called "penetration zone" (gray zone) at the beginning of the week. On other front lines, the occupied area did not increase. Specifically, no occupier advances were recorded on Huliai-Pole front in Zaporizhia region or on Vovchansk front in Kharkiv region, as they had the week before last. At the same time, enemy actions in Kharkiv and Sumy regions expanded the area of penetration.
However, the area of penetration in Donetsk region primarily contracted, meaning that in many places, the enemy's advance occurred by consolidating its positions in the "gray zone."
Overall, the occupied area last week, according to DeepState data, decreased by 26.04 square kilometers, while the week before last, it increased by 33.28 square kilometers. The area of penetration increased by 47.84 square kilometers over the week, while the week before last, it increased by 42.45 square kilometers.
Thus, according to DeepState data, the occupied area decreased by an average of approximately 3.8 square kilometers last week per day, and the penetration area increased by 6.8 square kilometers.
The week before last, the area of occupation increased by an average of 4.8 square kilometers per day.
As reported, in the final months of 2025, the average growth in the area of Russian occupation fluctuated between 8 and 14 square kilometers per day. At the end of January of this year, 2026, it began to decline, and in mid-February, the Defense Forces began gradually displacing the enemy in Oleksandrivka direction in Dnipropetrovsk and adjacent areas of Zaporizhia and Donetsk regions, and in May they were able to repeat this success. Between then, in March, the area of enemy occupation increased by 4-5 square kilometers per day, and in June and early July, by 2-3 square kilometers per day.
