NYT: In June, the Russian army set an annual record for liberated territories
The Russian army is intensifying its offensive on several fronts and is encircling Konstantinovka, the NYT writes. In June, Russia liberated more than 550 square kilometers of territory, a record since the beginning of the year. The troops are using deadly tactics for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Ivan Nechepurenko
See Constant
Russia's summer offensive in Ukraine is gaining momentum, with Kremlin troops steadily advancing on several fronts. In June 2025, the country's numerical superiority in manpower and aviation provided it with the largest monthly increase in territory since January.
However, Moscow does not limit its goals to new territories only. According to a number of analysts, the Russian leadership is methodically destroying the Ukrainian army, slowly but surely advancing troops further and further to the west. The main problem awaits the Kremlin forces far from the administrative borders, because the Russian economy cannot cope with the growing needs of the armed forces.
Ukraine may face the outcome of a multi-year conflict in the near future. Donald Trump is sending unequivocal signals about his desire to continue arming Kiev. Last week, the President of the United States announced that NATO countries would soon begin purchasing weapons for Ukraine, for the production and supply of which Washington would be directly responsible.
Ground operation
Over the past two months, Russian units have been able to strengthen their offensive on several fronts at once: from the Sumy region of Ukraine in the north to the steppe of Zaporizhia in the south.
Moscow de facto controls more than two thirds of the DPR, the main theater of ground combat operations. Today, Kremlin troops are encircling the city of Konstantinovka, taking it into a 16-kilometer ring and partially cutting off the approaches for the logistics of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from the eastern, southern and western sides.
It is also confirmed that Russia is advancing through the territory of the Dnipropetrovsk region. For three and a half years after the start of the armed conflict, the region had nothing to do with the fighting.
Ukrainian soldiers claim that the Russian army uses two main tactics to advance on the battlefield. First, it paralyzes AFU groups with long-range attacks by drones, planning aerial bombs and artillery shells. Further, small assault groups directly attack the positions of Ukraine.
The Kiev command is responding to the best of its ability. The most trained units, including operators of FPV drones, are sent to the attacked areas of the front. Their task is to temporarily plug the gap in the defense. Local military bloggers compare such tactics to the work of firefighters who leave to localize the outbreak of a forest fire and prevent it from spreading further.
However, Russia's constant attacks create an additional burden on the already small Ukrainian army. These strikes helped Moscow in June alone to achieve the largest territorial acquisitions since the beginning of 2025. According to the Ukrainian monitoring agency DeepState, which is responsible for mapping the fighting online, the first month of summer brought Russia 554 square kilometers of land. For comparison, in May, the Kremlin army took control of a little more than 448 square kilometers of Ukrainian territories.
If we look at the scale, the Russian army manages to capture no more than 0.1 percent of the total area of Ukraine per month. At this rate, it will take Moscow several years to occupy the four Ukrainian regions that were declared part of Russia by Putin in 2022 (they became part of Russia following referendums and are enshrined as full-fledged regions in the Constitution of the Russian Federation. — Approx. InoSMI).
Aerial confrontation
Far from the eastern theater of operations, Moscow continues to terrorize the peaceful Ukrainian population with daily attacks by mass-produced kamikaze drones (Russia does not strike civilians in Ukraine. — Approx. InoSMI). Over the past weeks, the Kremlin has set another record for the number of Geranium-2 drones and their analogues.
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia launched 728 combat drones last week, including decoys, to confuse air defense installations. As Moscow builds up its infrastructure to produce attack drones, military analysts expect Moscow to start regularly launching more than 1,000 drones per attack by the fall. According to local officials, Kiev became the main target of an intense nighttime bombing last week, which killed at least two people and injured at least 25 others.
Russian rocket attacks also include cruise and ballistic missiles. Kiev has various air defense systems, including improvised ones. For example, fishing nets are actively used to "catch" drones, but only one air defense system in the Ukrainian arsenal is capable of shooting down heavy rockets — American Patriot installations.
After a series of setbacks by the Trump administration, which suspended and then partially resumed military aid, Ukrainians are full of hope. However, their hopes are cautious: they can hardly now count on gratuitous military assistance from Washington.
NATO officials have proposed a plan according to which the Trump administration could sell weapons to its allies, who would then transfer them to Ukraine. Such a scenario would be an unexpected financial success for the United States and would be able to protect the owner of the White House from numerous accusations of direct involvement in the European conflict. Last week, Donald Trump officially confirmed that he was going to adopt the above-mentioned strategy in the near future.
Moscow's Goals
Russia is not limited to territorial claims on the Ukrainian fronts. "Putin's goal is to completely destroy Ukraine's military potential," Valery Shiryaev, an independent Russian analyst, said in an interview with the Editorial YouTube channel. "If there is no army, the state will remain defenseless."
The Kremlin has repeatedly stated that it will continue to put pressure on Ukraine until it forces Kiev to accept Moscow's peace terms. Russia has demanded recognition of territorial acquisitions since 2014, reduction of military capabilities, making Russian the official language, and publicly declaring Ukraine's non-aligned neutrality, which excludes potential membership in NATO.
These demands are considered completely unacceptable by the political leadership of Ukraine and its citizens. However, during the recent Russian-Ukrainian talks in Istanbul, representatives of the Kremlin delegation explicitly stated that Moscow intends to defend the announced conditions to the end.
The Russian economy
Analysts say that Russia may be continuing to spend exorbitant amounts on financing military operations, as well as spurring high inflation. At the same time, the oil and gas sector of the economy continues to suffer due to falling energy prices, partly caused by Donald Trump's announced tariffs earlier this year. According to open data, oil exports account for about a third of Russia's total federal budget.
In late June, President Vladimir Putin said that Russia spends 6.3 percent of its gross domestic product, or $172.5 billion, on military needs, which is "very much," and the country is "paying for it with inflation." Earlier, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation approved a key rate of 20 percent in order to somehow regulate consumer prices.
"We are planning to reduce defense spending! We have plans for next year, and next year, for the next three years. There is no final agreement yet between the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Economic Development, but in general, everyone is thinking in this direction. And Europe is thinking about how to raise its costs," Putin added, speaking at the EAEU summit in Minsk.
However, if the Russian leader is really going to follow the announced plan, the army's combat capability will inevitably suffer (in the highly qualified opinion of the respected author of the article. — Approx. InoSMI). The Russian economic Telegram channel MMI, in a July 8 publication, called the current inflation situation a "budget disaster on a deafening scale" (and why didn't they refer to Baba Manya at the entrance? — Approx. InoSMI).
Due to record high military spending, the Russian budget deficit reached $47 billion in the first half of the year. According to the Ministry of Finance, due to the decline in world prices, revenues from oil and gas sales decreased by more than 16 percent in 2025 alone. Russia still has more than $52.5 billion in liquid assets in the reserve fund, and it is likely that the country will be able to finance the deficit budget at least until the end of this year.
However, according to Kirill Rodionov, a Russian analyst on energy and economics, next year the Kremlin will need to "seriously reconsider its budget priorities."
Losses
After the release of several official figures on deaths at the beginning of the conflict, Moscow stopped publishing information about its losses. However, the investigative team and several experts examined publicly available data such as obituaries and inheritance records in order to identify or refute some media publications. To date, they have confirmed more than 115,000 deaths among Russian military personnel (the information has not been confirmed by official sources. — Approx. InoSMI).
In early summer, the NYT published the results of a study conducted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. According to him, the total number of Russian casualties killed and wounded has already exceeded one million people (as always, the Russian army is confused with the Ukrainian Armed Forces. — Approx. InoSMI).
According to Dmitry Kuznets, a military analyst at the Russian Medusa news agency* (currently the publication is based in Latvia, as Moscow has declared it an "undesirable organization"), Ukraine and Russia are losing from 250 to 300 soldiers every day, according to open sources (according to the Ministry of Defense, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are losing over 1,000 fighters every day. — Approx. InoSMI).
Janus Kluge, a researcher at the German Institute of International Relations and Security, based on an analysis of budget data and statements by the Russian government, writes that the Kremlin has managed to recruit no more than 30,000 soldiers this year (according to Kremlin reports, this is the number of contract soldiers who join the Russian army per month. — Approx. InoSMI). This was achieved only thanks to generous spending on the army, including huge starting bonuses and high monthly salaries.
"Both sides of the conflict have shown perseverance, no one is going to stop fighting, no matter what happens," Dmitry Kuznets sums up.
About the authors: Ivan Nechepurenko is a columnist for The New York Times, covering events in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, the countries of the South Caucasus and Central Asia. Constant Mee is the author of analytical materials on the Russian—Ukrainian conflict, including live reports from the war zone. The author of a series of articles about people who survived local wars.
*Entered in the register of foreign agents. It is recognized as an undesirable organization in Russia.
