Zelensky: Ukraine has retaken more territory than Russia captured this fall

Ukrainian forces have recaptured more territory than Russian forces have seized this fall, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an Oct. 18 post on social media.

"We are seeing results on the front," Zelensky said, in his evening video message.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces are destroying Russian attempts to launch assaults in Dobropillia, a city in the Donetsk region, while defending their positions in Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia, he highlighted, adding that the "front is strong."

"The trend this year continues," Zelensky said, "Since the start of fall, our warriors have liberated more territory than the Russians have managed to capture. The same was true at other points this year."

Under ‘Operation Vivaldi’ Ukrainian forces have made advances as they pushed into occupied areas of Donetsk Oblast. Ukraine's Third Army Corps unveiled on Oct. 14, that it had retaken another 101 square kilometers in the Lyman sector in Donetsk Oblast.

In total, Operation Vivaldi saw the liberation and return of 16 settlements and 277 square kilometers (106 square miles) to Ukraine, corps commander Brig. Gen. Andrii Biletskyi said in a recent announcement.

At the same time, Russian high-ranking military officials continue to present "greatly exaggerated claims of Russian frontline advances that do not correspond to battlefield realities" according to an Oct. 17 post on social media sharing findings from a report published by the Institute for the Study of War, an independent conflict monitor based in the U.S.

Russian forces have lost on average seven kilometers daily thus far in October 2026, the ISW reports, contrary to Putin’s false claim of continued Russian advances.

According to the ISW, the Russian forces make these false claims to present a narrative of military success, "such that Ukraine and its Western partners should capitulate to Russia’s negotiation demands."