Russia’s land gains in Ukraine dwindle as its diesel reportedly goes unsold

Russia is suffering losses on the battlefield, as US traders reportedly refuse to honour Trump’s diesel deal with Putin. Russia’s battlefield gains in Ukraine have fallen to almost nothing this year, according to the latest figures from independent observers and Kyiv’s military.

Territory seized by Russian forces in the first 10 months of 2026 amounts to 117.38 sq km (45.32 sq miles), according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a Washington-based think tank that uses open-source geolocated footage. By comparison, gains in 2025 were 5,304 sq km (2,047.95 sq miles), including 473 sq km (182.63 sq miles) of Russian territory recaptured in the Kursk region, while in 2024 they were 3,604 sq km (1,391.31 sq miles).

That means Russia advanced at a rate of 0.38 sq km (0.15 sq miles) a day this year, compared with 13.25 sq km (5.12 sq miles) a day in 2025 and 9.9 sq km (3.82 sq miles) a day in 2024. Ukraine’s General Staff put the estimated number of Russian personnel killed or seriously wounded from January 1 to October 31 at 381,300.