Ukraine War Latest: Ukraine captured more territory than it lost to Russia over February 2026, Syrskyi says
Key Developments on March 2:
- Ukraine captured more territory than it lost to Russia over February 2026, Syrskyi says
- US deploys LUCAS kamikaze drones against Iran 'for first time in combat'
- 70% of Ukrainians skeptical US-Ukraine-Russia talks will bring lasting peace, poll shows
- Russian drone hits passenger train in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, 1 killed, 10 injured
Ukrainian forces captured more territory in February 2026 than Russian forces were able to occupy in the same period, Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said on March 2.
The claim came amid a slowdown in Russian advances on most parts of the front line over winter — following a pattern seen on the battlefield a year prior — while along the southern front line in Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk Oblasts, Ukrainian units have been on the offensive.
"We survived this difficult 'battle of the winter,'" Syrskyi wrote, pointing out that the relative territorial gains had been the highest for Ukraine since the beginning of the Kursk Oblast incursion into Russian territory in summer 2024.
On Feb 21, President Zelensky claimed that Ukrainian forces had liberated 300 square kilometers of territory in a "counteroffensive" operation.
While Kyiv has been attacking on a noticeable scale, accurately measuring control, loss, and gain of territory objectively is becoming more difficult.
Over February, dozens of videos emerged on social media of Ukrainian forces conducting offensive operations in the part of the front line where Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts meet.
The area, lacking major geographical features, has been the most fluid part of the front line since autumn last year, when Russian forces began advancing at a greater pace against weaker Ukrainian brigades.
Operating in a wide contested "grey zone" with infiltrations on both sides, the Ukrainian advances trackable in open sources remain no more than extended clearing operations, rather than capturing and taking of Russian-held lines of defense.
Meanwhile, while Russian gains in Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts — the site of Moscow's quickest advances over 2025 — have ground to a halt, concerning gains have come around the area of occupied Siversk in Donetsk Oblast, according to open-source mapping project Deep State.
US deploys LUCAS kamikaze drones against Iran 'for first time in combat'
The U.S. used "low-cost one-way attack drones for the first time in combat" during strikes on Iran on Feb. 28, U.S. Central Command said in its post on X.
The U.S. launched a series of strikes against Iran as part of Operation Epic Fury, carried out jointly with Israel.
"The first hours of the operation included precision munitions launched from air, land, and sea. Additionally, CENTCOM's Task Force Scorpion Strike employed low-cost one-way attack drones for the first time in combat," the statement read.
Ukrainian forces began using short-range, attack drones to repel Russian assaults during Moscow's full-scale invasion. Russia later adopted and expanded the tactic, launching daily waves of long-range drones — some based on Iranian designs — against Ukrainian cities and villages.
The U.S. confirmed on March 1 it used the Low‑Cost Unmanned Combat Attack System (LUCAS) — a one‑way attack drone based on Iran's Shahed‑136 design and widely employed by Russia forces against Ukraine.
70% of Ukrainians skeptical US-Ukraine-Russia talks will bring lasting peace, poll shows
Around 70% of Ukrainians don't believe that the ongoing negotiations between Ukraine, the U.S., and Russia will result in lasting peace, according to a poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) published on March 2.
Only 25% of respondents said they rather believe in the talks' potential success, while 5% remained undecided, the survey showed.
For months, the U.S. has been acting as a mediator in the ongoing efforts to broker peace between Kyiv and Moscow in Russia's full-scale war, which entered its fifth year.
President Volodymyr Zelensky signaled in February that Washington will likely pressure both Ukraine and Russia to conclude a deal by summer, linking this to domestic political dynamics in the U.S.
Russian drone hits passenger train in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, 1 killed, 10 injured
A Russian drone strike hit a commuter passenger train in the Kryvyi Rih district of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, killing one person and injuring 10 others, regional officials said March 2.
The strike marks the second reported Russian attack on a passenger train since Jan. 27, when a train in Kharkiv Oblast was hit, and comes amid intensified Russian attacks on Ukraine's railway infrastructure since July 2025.
"Russians struck transport infrastructure. A fire broke out," Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Governor Oleksandr Hanzha said.
One man who was wounded in the attack later died in hospital, Hanzha added.
Seven people were injured, including two children — a 10-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy. Five of the wounded remain hospitalized in moderate condition, according to reports.
Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Kuleba clarified that a Russian drone struck one of the cars of a moving suburban train operated by Ukrzaliznytsia (Ukrainian Railways), calling it another attack on civilian rail transport.'''
Ukrzaliznytsia previously reported that Russia began escalating strikes on rail infrastructure in July 2025, targeting major junction stations in Lozova, Kharkiv Oblast; Synelnykove, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast; and Koziatyn, Vinnytsia Oblast – key hubs for both civilian travel and the supply of Ukrainian troops in frontline areas.
