Ukraine made its fastest battlefield gains in more than two and a half years in mid-February 2026, according to an analysis published on February 17.
201 square kilometres
AFP, analysing data from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), said Ukrainian forces recovered 201 square kilometres from Russian troops between February 11 and 15. That is roughly equal to Russia’s total gains in December 2025 and Ukraine’s biggest short-term success since the June 2023 counteroffensive.
The main advance was about 80 kilometres east of Zaporizhzhia, with further gains on the Kharkiv, Kostiantynivka, Pokrovsk and Novopavlivka fronts.
Starlink
The ISW linked the counterattacks to Russian forces losing access to Starlink. “These Ukrainian counterattacks are likely leveraging the recent block on Russian forces’ access to Starlink,” it said. Russian military bloggers complained of “communications and command and control (C2) issues on the battlefield.”
Ukraine and SpaceX introduced verification of Starlink terminals on February 2, and military observers reported widespread disruptions to Russian Starlink use along the front from February 5.
Sources
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