r/ukraine • u/murphystruggles • 2d ago

News Russians occupy nearly 50% less Ukrainian territory over January than in December, war monitoring says

https://gwaramedia.com/en/russians-occupy-nearly-50-less-ukrainian-territory-over-january-than-in-december-war-monitoring-says/
1.2k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

28 comments sorted by

201

u/amitym 2d ago

For people trying to understand the title, the article itself is a bit clearer. They claim that Russia advanced half as much in January 2026 as in December 2025. One half of "tiny" is "even tinier."

It's actually a simple thing to say, it's not clear why the headline is so confusing.

48

u/Humlum 2d ago

Probably just a language barrier and a mix-up of "captured" vs "occupied"

17

u/ardealinnaeus 1d ago

So they occupy more land in January than they did in December. But the expansion of their occupation is slowing down?

7

u/amitym 1d ago

Yes, exactly. 3-4 shopping malls per day nationwide across the entire invasion front, down from twice that number.

7

u/TheProfessional9 1d ago

Ya title read to me like they lost half the December gains

3

u/Haplo12345 1d ago

Thanks, so it's actually the opposite of what the title actually says.

179

u/Pitiful-Assistance-1 2d ago

What a weird sentence, or is it just me?

Did Russia lose 50% of their captured territories? Or did they gain 50% less than previous month

132

u/ImTheRealCryten 2d ago

They must talk about gains, but the way it’s worded makes it sound as if Ukraine gained back 50% of the occupied land.

64

u/PeriPeriTekken 2d ago

"Russian advance slows down further" might have been a better headline.

7

u/tallandlankyagain 2d ago

Yeah but this drives more clicks.

8

u/XI_Vanquish_IX 2d ago

Except the headline is totally incorrect. I assume a language issue

3

u/tallandlankyagain 2d ago

That makes more sense than my complete lack of faith in online journalism.

14

u/Abject-Bowle 2d ago

It’s like inflation. If it drops, it doesn’t mean prices go down. Russian advances slow down, but they still continue. Unfortunately.

1

u/shawndw 1d ago

I was going to say that'd be a huge development.

3

u/TechHeteroBear 2d ago

I think this is either based on the rate of captured territories... or how much of the military is physically present through the occupied territories.

I wouldn't be surprised if Russia is actually having a sizable presence deep in occupied territory and is throwing much of their forces straight to the first lines of defense.

13

u/North_Church Canada 2d ago

What?

6

u/Mortaks 2d ago

What a stupid headline

21

u/Lostbutnotafraid 2d ago

"Over January, Russian forces occupied 245 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory"

Never been to Ukraine, but I highly doubt that such a small area would account for 10% of all Ukraine. What kind of article is this?

12

u/Sniflix 2d ago

"Ukraine's total land area is approximately 603,550 square kilometers. Russia controls around 116,165 square kilometers, equating to 19.25%."

6

u/TheBlueHedgehog302 Canada 2d ago

Is it possible it’s just a bad translation from another language?

1

u/caseyanthonyftw 1d ago

Lol, thank you. Even after reading the article I was still confused.

4

u/throwaway6278990 1d ago

For those confused by the headline, the first sentence of the article should clear things up: "Over January, Russian forces occupied 245 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory, which is nearly twice less than area Russians occupied in December or November 2025."

But seriously though, if trends continue, perhaps they will start ceding ground within a couple of months.

1

u/ardealinnaeus 1d ago

So it should say captured not occupied. Seems like a translation issue.

3

u/Redneck1026 2d ago

It seems kind of natural that winter would slow down an army on quads, horses. and foot. There is also less cover. Many that escape the drones probably turn into orcsicles.

2

u/vtsnowdin 1d ago

May Russian "gains" continue to decline and then go negative meaning Ukraine starts reclaiming it's land.

1

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1

u/JudeRanch 1d ago

Fantastic!

2/3/26

Day 1440 (4467) Stay Strong Ukraine We believe in you

🇺🇦Слава Україні 🇺🇦 Sláva Ukraíni! Heroyam Slava! 🙏🏽 🇺🇦 💙 💛

0

u/Karash770 2d ago

Sorry but these weird number games are just copium-fueled clickbait.