Russian gains were recorded near the village of Pishchane in Kharkiv Oblast and near Rodynske in Donetsk Oblast, analysts said.
Analysts from the Institute for the Study of War reported on May 2 that Russian forces suffered a net territorial loss in April 2026 for the first time since Ukraine launched its Kursk Oblast operation in August 2024.
Russian troops lost control of 116 square kilometers (45 square miles) of territory in April 2026, ISW analysts said. Russia’s rate of advance has been slowing since November 2025 amid Ukrainian ground counterattacks, mid-range strikes, the blocking of Starlink terminals used by Russian forces, and Kremlin restrictions on access to Telegram, which analysts said worsened existing problems within the Russian army.
DeepState reported on May 1 that Russian forces captured 141 square kilometers (54 square miles) of Ukrainian territory in April, down 11.9% from March, when Russian troops seized 160 square kilometers (62 square miles).
Russian assault activity increased by 2.2% last month, DeepState said. Occupying forces needed an average of 36 assaults to capture one square kilometer of territory, according to the analysts.
The largest territorial gains in April were recorded in Donetsk Oblast, where Russian troops captured 53 square kilometers (20 square miles), or 36% of the total area seized during the month. That figure was nearly half the amount captured in March and 6.5 times lower than in December.
Russian forces also advanced 44 square kilometers (17 square miles) in Sumy Oblast, accounting for 30% of total territorial gains. Kharkiv Oblast accounted for 22%, while Zaporizhzhya Oblast made up 12%, DeepState reported.
Russian forces also lost control of territory in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast in April, with the occupied area shrinking from 105 square kilometers (41 square miles) to 98 square kilometers (38 square miles).
Ukraine’s Defense Forces have reduced the occupied zone in the region by 89 square kilometers (34 square miles) over the past three months, DeepState said. Russian troops controlled 187 square kilometers (72 square miles) of the oblast in January.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in early April that the situation on the front line was currently the best it had been for Ukraine in the past 10 months.