Ukraine War’s Geographic Reality: Russia Has Seized Much of the East

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been punctuated by flawed planning, poor intelligence, barbarity and wanton destruction. But obscured in the daily fighting is the geographic reality that Russia has made gains on the ground.

The Russian Defense Ministry said Tuesday that its forces in eastern Ukraine had advanced to the border between Donetsk and Luhansk, the two Russian-speaking provinces where Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting Ukraine’s army for eight years.

The ministry’s assertion, if confirmed, strengthens the prospect that Russia could soon gain complete control over the region, known as the Donbas, compared with just a third of it before the Feb. 24 invasion.

The gains, combined with Russia's early success in seizing parts of southern Ukraine adjoining the Crimean peninsula that Russia illegally annexed in 2014, would give the Kremlin enormous leverage in any future negotiation to halt the conflict. Read more

@nytimes