{"id":670401,"date":"2026-01-03T04:13:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T04:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/670401\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T04:13:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T04:13:11","slug":"ukraine-war-briefing-russia-makes-biggest-battleground-gains-since-first-year-of-war-analysis-shows-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/670401\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine war briefing: Russia makes biggest battleground gains since first year of war, analysis shows | Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"
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    Russia\u2019s battlefield gains in Ukraine last year were the highest since 2022<\/strong>, an analysis showed, as Kyiv prepared to host security advisers from allied states despite Moscow\u2019s unrelenting strikes<\/strong>. The Russian army captured more than 5,600 square kilometres, or nearly 1%, of Ukrainian territory in 2025, according to an AFP analysis of data from the Institute for the Study of War. The land captured is more than in the previous two years combined, though far short of the more than 60,000 sq km Russia took in 2022.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

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    As Russia pressed its advantage against outgunned Ukrainian troops, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said about 15 countries would attend security talks in Kyiv<\/a> on Saturday<\/strong>, the latest in a flurry of efforts to end the nearly four-year war. The meeting will include representatives from the EU and Nato, while a US delegation would join via video link.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

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    Zelenskyy named military intelligence chief <\/strong>Kyrylo Budanov<\/strong> as his new top aide on Friday<\/strong>, after the president\u2019s previous chief of staff resigned in November over a corruption scandal. Budanov has built up a strong reputation in Ukraine, credited with a series of daring operations against Russia. When formally appointed, he will succeed Andriy Yermak, who resigned in November after investigators raided his house as part of a sweeping corruption probe.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

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    \u201cKyrylo has specialised experience in these areas and sufficient strength to achieve results,\u201d Zelenskyy said<\/strong>. Budanov, 39, said on Telegram his new position was \u201cboth an honour and a responsibility \u2013 at a historic time for Ukraine<\/a> \u2013 to focus on the critically important issues of the state\u2019s strategic security\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

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    Zelenskyy also said he wanted to replace defence minister <\/strong>Denys Shymhal<\/strong>, who was appointed only six months ago, with 34-year-old Mykhailo Fedorov, who is now minister of digital transformation. \u201cMykhailo is deeply involved in issues related to drones and is very effective in the digitalisation of state services and processes,\u201d the president added.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

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    Moscow kept up its aerial barrage of Ukraine overnight, with the latest strike on a residential area of the city of Kharkiv reducing parts of multi-storey buildings to smouldering rubble. <\/strong>At least two people were killed in the attack, including a three-year-old child, and about 25 more were injured, officials said.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

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    Zelenskyy described the attack as \u201cheinous\u201d. \u201cUnfortunately, this is how the Russians treat life and people<\/strong> \u2013 they continue killing, despite all efforts by the world, and especially by the United States, in the diplomatic process,\u201d he said on social media. Russia denied the attack had taken place, suggesting that an explosion at the site was caused by Ukrainian ammunition.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

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    Ukrainian officials on Friday ordered the evacuation of more than 3,000 children and their parents from 44 frontline settlements<\/strong> in the Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions, where Russian troops have been advancing. More than 150,000 people have been evacuated from frontline areas since 1 June, said Ukraine\u2019s restoration minister Oleksiy Kuleba.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Russia\u2019s battlefield gains in Ukraine last year were the highest since 2022, an analysis showed, as Kyiv prepared…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":670402,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7655],"tags":[332],"class_list":{"0":"post-670401","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-russia","8":"tag-russia"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115829224423878833","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=670401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670401\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/670402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=670401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=670401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=670401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}