Putin boasts of gains in Donbas at Valdai forum, but his own figures tell a different story
Vladimir Putin claimed Ukraine controls only 11% of Donetsk region and vowed to seize the rest faster than predicted, but his own past statements show minimal territorial progress over eight months.
Russian President Vladimir Putin used Thursday's annual Valdai discussion forum to boast about his occupying army's gains in the Donetsk region, urging Ukraine to end its resistance. He claimed Ukraine now controls only about 11% of Donetsk region's territory, and that Russian forces seized 1,301 square kilometers in September — 2.5 times more than in August. Putin expressed confidence that the remaining territory would fall faster than Ukrainian and European estimates of one and a half to two years.
He also claimed Russia had not started the war in Ukraine, portraying Russia instead as a victim of aggression.
Figures don't add up
Comparing Putin's Thursday remarks with his own statement from March 10 this year — when, in a meeting with so-called "Donetsk People's Republic" head Denis Pushilin, he said Ukraine then controlled 15–17% of the region — shows Russian forces gained only a few percentage points over eight months in a region where Russian-backed separatists already controlled part of the territory since 2014. The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) estimates occupying forces actually control only 81% of the region.
Overall, Russia's invasion of Ukraine has now lasted 1,681 days — longer than the Soviet Union's war against Nazi Germany (1,418 days) — yet Russian forces have failed to capture a single Ukrainian regional administrative center.
Losses and demands
Ukraine's General Staff reported that occupying forces' personnel losses in September reached 46,230 — the highest monthly figure this year. Since the invasion began, Russian losses have exceeded one and a half million soldiers.
Notably, when launching the invasion in February 2022, Putin promised not to occupy Ukrainian territory, yet in September that year Russia formally annexed four Ukrainian regions it still does not fully control. In 2024, Putin issued an ultimatum for peace talks demanding Ukraine surrender all claimed territories and renounce NATO membership — demands that have not softened since.
