伦敦-俄罗斯在乌克兰东部和南部的攻势一直持续到2025年，过去12个月的大部分战斗都集中在东部顿涅茨克和东北部哈尔科夫地区被摧毁的城市。
但今年9月，俄罗斯军队开始在Zaporizhzhia以东的农田相对快速地推进，据乌克兰军方官员称，在一些地方推进了6英里，因为在莫斯科军队突然施加的强大进攻压力下，已经控制该地区两年的领土防御部队被瓦解了。
俄罗斯在Zaporizhzhia的意外突破代表了一场战争中战场机动性的罕见实例，这场战争的特点是费力的消耗性战争，机械化部队集结和支持装甲车辆很快成为不断涌向前线的成群无人机的轻松猎物。
部署来阻止俄罗斯前进的乌克兰部队中有第225独立突击团，该团此前一直在东北部苏梅州的共同边界上击退俄罗斯军队。
“那里的局势仍然很复杂，我们正在努力稳定局势，”第225团少校Oleh Shyriaiev在前线附近通过电话告诉ABC新闻。“认为它100%稳定是错误的，”他补充说。
战斗人员的代表目前正在进行美国赞助的穿梭外交，白宫希望这将结束二战以来欧洲最大的冲突，以及美国总统唐纳德·特朗普誓言在返回椭圆形办公室后24小时内结束的战争。
用俄罗斯副外长谢尔盖·里亚布科夫(Sergey Ryabkov)最近接受美国广播公司新闻(ABC News)采访时的话说，俄罗斯官员一再将他们在战场上的缓慢进展视为莫斯科“必然”胜利的证据。
基辅及其欧洲盟友对这种解释存在激烈争议，但克里姆林宫仍试图利用其逐渐夺取新领土的行为作为正在进行的谈判的筹码。“随着领土的丧失，决策自由的空间变窄了，”克里姆林宫发言人德米特里·佩斯科夫在11月表示。
在接触线沿线的散兵坑、战壕和树林里，Shyriaiev说他的部队专注于他们的日常生存。
“我个人对任何形式的和平谈判都持怀疑态度，”他说。“即使签署了某种和平协议，俄罗斯也不会停止存在，它也不会停止成为我们的敌人。”
他表示，任何协议“都只会给俄罗斯重整旗鼓的时间。接下来会发生什么?我们需要期待一次新的袭击。俄罗斯能给予的任何保证都不能被认为是真正的保证。”
俄罗斯在Zaporizhzhia的进攻重点现在是Huliaipole地区，这是一个小城市，战前有大约20 000人。本月早些时候，军事管理负责人告诉乌克兰媒体，只有大约150名平民留在被摧毁的城市。
在城市周围的田野里，乌克兰官员表示，他们已经在很大程度上阻止了俄罗斯的前进势头。Shyriaiev说，他的部队需要时间来适应新的战场，并拖垮攻击者。
“我们必须走出去，建立一个封锁线，完成任务，为进一步的成功创造有利条件，”他解释说。“目前，我们所做的一切都集中在稳定前线和阻挡敌人上。”
Shyriaiev说，该地区的乌克兰部队正面临俄罗斯补充新兵和新装备的部队。
“敌人已经加强了它的无人机部分，由于这一点，他们控制了接触线的进入区域——或者至少他们试图控制它，”他说。
“敌人已经取得了一些成功，因为他们的部队已经根据他们最先进的经验进行了重组，”Shyriaiev说。“他们接受了最新更新的训练，他们从他们的前任那里学到了所有的‘教训’”，他补充道。
Shyriaiev说，那些新到达的部队试图利用寒冷的天气和由此产生的“浓雾”来为自己谋利。
“当能见度正常时，我们可以看到一切，控制一切，”他说。“然而，当周围有雾时，敌人试图利用这一点，渗透到我们阵地之间的空间。”
Shyriaiev说，对乌克兰人来说，天气也提供了机会。“当能见度良好时，这意味着隐藏或掩盖得很差的位置是一个开放的目标，部署在那里的部队可能会受伤或被摧毁。”
莫斯科的“冰川”前进
俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京几乎没有表示他打算减轻基辅军队的前线压力，尽管最近美国斡旋的和平谈判获得了新的动力。
在周五的年度年终新闻发布会上，普京表示，和平只有在他去年在一次演讲中概述的“原则”基础上才有可能，在演讲中，他提出了一些最强硬的要求——乌克兰永久排除在北约之外，基辅从俄罗斯声称在乌克兰东部和东南部的所有领土上撤出。
普京再次声称，军事势头与莫斯科的部队在一起，称其部队“正在各条战线上前进”。
据乌克兰官员和独立分析人士称，普京的夸夸其谈与战场现实不符。
总部位于美国的智库战争研究所(Institute for the Study for the War)本月说，俄罗斯军队在过去一年里夺取了乌克兰0.77%的领土，约1，802平方英里，同时承受了不成比例的高伤亡。夺取的面积大致相当于阿拉斯加安克雷奇的面积。
乌克兰军方估计，自2022年2月以来，俄罗斯已有约120万人伤亡。弗拉基米尔·泽连斯基总统本月表示，每个月大约有3万名俄罗斯士兵丧生。
俄罗斯没有公布有关其伤亡的细节，因此很难独立证实这一数字。自2022年以来，乌克兰对俄罗斯伤亡人数的估计与美国和欧洲情报机构的估计大体一致。
同样，乌克兰也不定期公布其伤亡数字。泽连斯基在2025年2月表示，自2022年以来，已有超过4.6万乌克兰人丧生，38万人受伤。
大西洋理事会(Atlantic Council)智库乌克兰警报服务(UkraineAlert service)的编辑彼得·迪金森(Peter Dickinson)去年12月写道，尽管莫斯科的军队掌握着“总体主动权”，但其攻击部队“在遭受灾难性损失的同时，以极慢的速度向前推进。”
也是在这个月，泽连斯基访问了哈尔科夫前线城市库平斯克，发布了自己在该市中心的视频，以证明俄罗斯最近声称已占领该市是假的。迪金森说，这次访问“强调了一个事实，即俄罗斯的胜利绝不是不可避免的。”
但普京似乎决心坚持不懈地推进，不管其速度有多慢、成本有多高。乌克兰总司令Oleksandr Syrskyi将军上周在给脸书的一封信中说，俄罗斯已经在前线集结了71万军队用于进攻行动。
西尔斯基说:“尽管损失惨重，但俄罗斯军队没有放弃持续的进攻行动，尽管它没有取得重大的作战成功。”
Shyriaiev说，尽管他的部队“人员充足”且有积极性，但人力和资源的差异在前线是显而易见的。他说，俄罗斯人“在任何事情上都关注质量。”
他说，Shyriaiev的部队面临“大量步兵”从“清晨到深夜”的攻击。“他们对各种车辆进行机械化攻击——普通汽车、摩托车、童车。也可能是适当的军事装备，适当的军用装甲车。”
“他们正在想尽一切办法，”他继续说道。“我们的军队的规模和我们的资源和他们的资源的比例，当然，对我们不利。他们有更多的资源。这就是为什么他们确实取得了一些成功，但这需要付出很高的代价。”
Ukrainian soldiers battle to stabilize southern front amid latest peace push
LONDON --Russia's offensive campaign in eastern and southern Ukraine has been grinding on throughout 2025, with much of the fighting of the last 12 months focused on devastated cities in the eastern Donetsk and northeastern Kharkiv regions.
But in September, Russian forces began a relatively rapid advance in the farmlands to the east of Zaporizhzhia, advancing up to six miles in places -- according to Ukrainian military officials -- as territorial defense units that had been holding the area for two years crumbled under sudden and intense offensive pressure applied by Moscow's forces.
Russia's unexpected breakthrough in Zaporizhzhia represented a rare instance of battlefield mobility in a war that has become characterized by labored attritional warfare, in which mechanized troop concentrations and supporting armored vehicles quickly become easy prey for the flocks of drones incessantly swarming above the front lines.
Among the Ukrainian units deployed to stem the Russian advance was the 225th Separate Assault Regiment, which had previously been fighting to repel Russian forces along the shared border in the northeastern Sumy Oblast.
"The situation there remains complicated, and we are trying to stabilize it," Maj. Oleh Shyriaiev of the 225th regiment told ABC News by phone from close to the front. "It is a mistake to consider that it is 100% stabilized," he added.
Representatives of the combatants are currently engaged in U.S.-sponsored shuttle diplomacy that the White House hopes will secure an end to Europe’s largest conflict since World War II and a war that U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to end within 24 hours of his return to the Oval Office.
Russian officials have repeatedly framed their slow battlefield gains as evidence of Moscow's "inevitable" victory, in the words of Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov during a recent interview with ABC News.
That interpretation is hotly disputed by Kyiv and its European allies, but the Kremlin nonetheless seeks to use its gradual seizure of new territory as leverage in the ongoing talks. "The space for freedom of decision-making narrows as territories are lost," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in November.
In foxholes, trenches and treelines along the contact line, Shyriaiev said his unit is focused on their day-to-day survival.
"I personally am skeptical about any kind of peace negotiations," he said. "Even if some kind of a peace agreement is signed, Russia will not stop existing, and it will not stop being our enemy."
Any deal, he suggested, "will just give time for Russia to regroup. And what happens next? We need to expect a new attack. No guarantees that Russia can give can be considered true guarantees."
The focus of the Russian offensive in Zaporizhzhia is now in the area of Huliaipole, a small city which before the war was home to around 20,000 people. Only around 150 civilians remain in the devastated city, the head of its military administration told Ukrainian media earlier this month.
In the fields around the city, Ukrainian officials say they have largely stalled Russia's forward momentum. Shyriaiev said his unit needed time to adapt to the new battlefield and wear down the attackers.
"We had to go out and create a blocking line, fulfil missions and create favorable conditions for further success," he explained. "At the moment, everything we are doing is focused on stabilizing the front line and blocking the enemy."
Ukrainian forces in the area are facing Russian units replenished with new recruits and new equipment, Shyriaiev said.
"The enemy has strengthened its UAV component and thanks to that, they are holding under control the access areas to the line of contact -- or at least they are trying to hold it under control," he said.
"The enemy has had some success because their units have been reconstituted according to the most cutting edge experience that they have," Shyriaiev said. "They have been trained with the latest updates, they have all the 'lessons learned'" by their predecessors, he added.
Those newly arrived troops are trying to use the wintry weather and resulting "dense fog" to their advantage, Shyriaiev said.
"When there are normal visibility conditions, we can see everything and control everything," he said. "However, when there is fog around, the enemy is trying to take advantage of this and to infiltrate the space between our positions."
For the Ukrainians, too, the weather offers opportunities, Shyriaiev said. "When visibility is good, it means that badly hidden or badly masked positions are an open target and the troops that are deployed there can be wounded or destroyed."
Moscow's 'glacial' advance
Russian President Vladimir Putin has given little indication that he intends to ease the frontline pressure on Kyiv's troops, despite the recent fresh impetus given to U.S.-brokered peace negotiations.
At his annual end-of-year press conference on Friday, Putin said peace was only possible on the basis of "principles" he outlined in a speech last year, in which he made some of his most hardline demands -- Ukraine's permanent exclusion from NATO and Kyiv's withdrawal from all of the territory Russia claims in eastern and southeastern Ukraine.
Putin again claimed that military momentum was with Moscow's forces, saying its troops were "advancing on all fronts."
Putin's bombast does not align with battlefield realities, according to Ukrainian officials and independent analysts.
The U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War think tank said this month that Russian forces have seized 0.77% of Ukraine's territory -- some 1,802 square miles -- over the past year, while sustaining disproportionately high casualties. The area captured is roughly equivalent to that of Anchorage, Alaska.
Ukraine's military estimates that Russia has sustained around 1.2 million casualties since February 2022. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this month that around 30,000 Russian troops are being killed each month.
Russia does not release details about its casualties, making it difficult to independently confirm that figure. Ukrainian estimates of Russian casualties have broadly chimed with estimates from U.S. and European intelligence agencies since 2022.
Ukraine likewise does not regularly disclose its casualty figures. Zelenskyy said in February 2025 that more than 46,000 Ukrainians have been killed and 380,000 wounded since 2022.
Peter Dickinson, the editor of the Atlantic Council think tank's UkraineAlert service, wrote in December that while Moscow's troops hold "the overall initiative," its attacking units are "grinding forward at glacial pace while suffering catastrophic losses."
Also this month, Zelenskyy visited the Kharkiv frontline city of Kupyansk, posting videos of himself in the center of the city as proof that Russia's recent claim to have captured it was false. The visit, Dickinson said, "underscored the fact that Russian victory is anything but inevitable."
But Putin appears committed to a relentless push, regardless of its slow pace and high cost. Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi said in a post to Facebook last week that Russia has amassed 710,000 troops along the front for its offensive operations.
"Despite the substantial losses, the Russian army is not giving up on continuing offensive operations, although it has not achieved significant operational success," Syrskyi said.
Shyriaiev said that although his unit is "well-staffed" and motivated, the difference in manpower and resources is obvious at the front. The Russians, he said, "are focusing on mass in everything."
Shyriaiev's unit faces "massive amounts of infantry" attacking from "early morning and until late at night," he said. "They conduct mechanized assaults on all kinds of vehicles -- regular cars, motorbikes, buggies. It could also be proper military equipment, proper military armored vehicles."
"They are leaving no stone unturned," he continued. "The ratio of the size of our army and our resources and their resources is, of course, something unfavorable towards us. They have more resources. This is why they do achieve some successes, but that happens at a very high price."
