Zelensky shares new update on liberated Ukrainian territory, says Kyiv 'more positive' than at end of 2025
Ukrainian forces have liberated up to 435 kilometers of Russian-occupied territory in the country's south, thwarting Moscow's efforts to mount a southern offensive, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on March 8.
The president's claim comes as Ukrainian units have gone on the offensive in Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk Oblasts, where Russia's advances have ground to a halt.
"In the south of our country, over the past month and a half, (Ukrainian forces) have carried out a number of important actions in terms of defense and in some areas of offense," Zelensky said during a joint press conference with Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten in Kyiv.
"The actions were exclusively aimed at thwarting the plans of the Russian Federation. We believe that we were quite successful — we restored control over somewhere around 400-435 kilometers."
Zelensky acknowledged that battlefield conditions remain difficult, while striking a note of cautious optimism.
"But I will say this, very cautiously, everyone is more positive than it was at the end of 2025," he said.
Russia's primary goals are the complete capture of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, Zelensky said. While Russia's advances in the east have slowed over the winter, the offensive in Donbas is still underway.
"(T)heir plans have not changed, they are being postponed due to the fact that they are not able to do this with the means and forces that they have today and due to the actions, respectively, of our Armed Forces," Zelensky said.
Russian troops began advancing at a faster pace in southern Ukraine in fall 2025, gaining ground in the area of the front line where Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts meet. The area has since remained the most fluid part of the front line.
Accurately measuring the control, loss, and gain of territory along the front lines is increasingly difficult, as the contested "grey zone" between Ukrainian and Russian-held territory widens.
Some Ukrainian advances tracked by open sources represent extended clearing operations, rather than the capture of Russian-held lines of defense.
While Ukrainian forces have halted Russia's southern advance, Russian forces continue to gain territory in Donetsk Oblast — paying a steep price in personnel losses for every kilometer seized.
Earlier, Zelensky claimed on Feb. 21 that Ukrainian forces had liberated 300 square kilometers of territory in a "counteroffensive" operation. Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi then reported on March 2 that Ukrainian forces captured more territory in February 2026 than Russian forces were able to occupy in the same period.
In their monthly summary of front-line developments, the open-source mapping project Deep State recorded 126 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory lost over February, the lowest since summer 2024.
