2,000,440 km². Putin claimed that Russia had seized territory in Ukraine four times the size of its total area
This was highlighted by The Moscow Times.
At a meeting with the heads of international news agencies, Putin said that Russia had allegedly fully captured the Luhansk region and 80% of the Zaporizhzhia region, and that the capture of territories was continuing ‘on a daily basis’.
“I won’t name the exact number of settlements right now, as I’m afraid of making a mistake, but the Russian army has brought approximately 2,440,000 square kilometres under its control,” he stated at the meeting with the heads of international news agencies.
The area of Ukraine within its internationally recognised borders is approximately 603,600 km². Subsequently, the word “thousand” was removed from Putin’s quote on the Kremlin’s website, leaving only “2,440 square kilometres”.
At the same time, analysts claim that in reality, Russia has been losing more territory than it has been capturing in recent months. Indeed, the DeepState project published its assessment, according to which May 2026 was Russia’s worst month in terms of the increase in occupied territory.
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