Russian gains in Ukraine highlight strategic challenges
In October alone, Russian forces occupied approximately 490 square kilometres of Ukrainian territory. This is the most in all of 2024, as well as since the start of the Russian counteroffensive in October of the previous year, according to the Ukrainian project DeepState, which cites monitoring data.
The DeepState service points out that although Russian territorial gains in the past month were the largest in the past 12 months, factors such as military-industrial potential, troop training, and especially the rational use of human potential are much more significant. The service notes that this last aspect is becoming their weak point.
Analysts at DeepState emphasise that the Russians have learned lessons from previous mistakes and now have more time to train their personnel in their regiments and brigades.
As a result, many personnel allow the enemy to rotate their human resources regularly. The service notes that replacing a brigade that has remained on the front since 24 February 2022 could be a problem for the Ukrainian armed forces.
Lost territories are not the most important
Analysts at DeepState pointed out that while the extent of lost territory is significant, it is not the sole measure of an army's effectiveness. They noted that whereas in October 2022, the adversary launched an assault on Novomykhailivka (located in the Pokrovsk district of the Donetsk region) with four full companies, such actions now come at a high cost for them.
