Russia’s Ukraine Offensive Hits Unexpected Milestones

Vladimir Putin is making history with his brutal invasion of Ukraine – but probably not the kind the Russian president wanted.

The authoritarian leader is known for his desire to cement his own legacy and determined to make “Russia great again”.

But his performance on the battlefield seems to be pushing his own country in the opposite direction.

Russian soldiers are moving at a shockingly slow rate on the battlefield, according to analysis from a US-based think tank, at an average rate of 15 and 70 metres per day in their most prominent offensives.

The Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) found that Russian forces are “slower than almost any major offensive campaign in any war in the last century”.

“Despite claims of battlefield momentum in Ukraine, the data shows that Russia is paying an extraordinary price for minimal gains and is increasingly a declining power,” CSIS said.

Russia currently holds a fifth of Ukraine’s sovereign land, having initially tried and failed to usurp the government in Kyiv back in 2022.

CSIS notes that Russian forces seized 0.6% of Ukraine in 2024 – an area smaller than the US state of Delaware.

But Putin continues to push his troops forward, even as his invasion turns into a war of attrition.

According to CSIS, Russian forces have suffered nearly 1.2 million casualties – killed, wounded and missing – since the war began, “more losses than any major power in any war since World War 2” by some margin.

CSIS estimates that as many as 325,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in battle.

Despite being a much smaller nation forced to defend itself, the Ukrainian side has lost far few soldiers than its opponents, according to CSIS – with a ratio of roughly 2.5:1 or 2:1.

The think tank said: “Ukrainian forces likely suffered somewhere between 500,000 and 600,000 casualties, including killed, wounded, and missing, and between 100,000 and 140,000 fatalities between February 2022 and December 2025.”

The think tank suggested its high casualty rate could be down to a range of problems, including: “Russia’s failure to effectively conduct combined arms and joint warfare, poor tactics and training, corruption, low morale, and Ukraine’s effective defence-in-depth strategy in a war that favours the defence.”

The experts pointed out that this persistence with the war effort comes at the cost of Russia’s own economy.

CSIS said: “Russia’s war economy is under mounting strain, with manufacturing declining, slowing growth of 0.6 percent in 2025, and no globally competitive technology firms to help drive long-term productivity.”

But Putin is still dragging his heels over Donald Trump’s attempts to force through some peace talks.

The US president is determined to end the war by any means possible – even if it means rewarding the aggressor – while his Russian counterpart is sticking to his maximalist goals.

Putin concluded the first round of trilateral talks with the States and Ukraine by insisting Russia should control the whole of Ukraine’s Donbas region – even though that is a clear red line for Kyiv.

Even so, Trump officials have insisted those discussions were productive and more talks are expected next week.