Ukraine’s War Of Attrition With Russia Freezes 1,200-Kilometer Front Line

Four years into Russia’s large-scale invasion, the war in Ukraine has become a “war of attrition with no clear end in sight,” with Moscow gaining only about “1.3% more Ukrainian territory since the start of 2023,” according to tv5monde.

“Ukraine has endured the winter with heating outages and weapon shortages, the harshest winter it has faced so far during the war”

El Mundo

The same outlet says the conflict has “morphed into a war of attrition dominated by drones and gains measured in meters,” and that the “1,200-kilometer front line has frozen, with neither Kyiv nor Moscow able to tilt it.”

El Mundo

El Mundo describes a similar pattern, saying “There is no Russian collapse, but there is a partial stall of the spring-summer offensive Moscow was preparing,” and that the “unstable balance (slow advance, pinpoint counterattacks, and constant pressure) continues to define the course of the war.”

El Mundo adds that “in April a change in dynamics is noticeable,” with Kyiv recovering “some positions” and “forcing Moscow to redistribute forces in sensitive sectors of the eastern front.”

It also frames the fighting as localized rather than decisive, noting that Ukraine has “shown that it can regain ground, disrupt Russian plans, and strike at the rear,” but “has not broken the dominant pattern of the conflict.”

Even where momentum appears to shift, El Mundo says “There are no signs of a Russian strategic withdrawal comparable to Kharkiv or Kherson in 2022,” while Russia continues to attack “toward Sloviansk, Kramatorsk, and Kostyantynivka,” and pushes in “Sumy and Kharkiv to create the so-called 'security zone'.”

El Mundo says the war’s dynamics shifted in April, even though neither side launched a general counteroffensive or retreated steadily across the entire front.

It writes that “in April a change in dynamics is noticeable,” as “Kyiv has managed to recover some positions and, above all, to interfere with Russian operational plans by forcing Moscow to redistribute forces in sensitive sectors of the eastern front.”

France TV

The outlet links those changes to the way Ukraine can disrupt Russian planning without reversing the overall map, describing “very localized Ukrainian counterattacks” that “coincides with very localized Ukrainian counterattacks.”

El Mundo says the “clearest Ukrainian advances are concentrated in the southeast of the front,” in areas that “indirectly affect the Russian strategic axis toward Pokrovsk and the fortified line of Donetsk.”

It also quotes Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, defending that “the situation at the front has stabilized” and that his forces are achieving “local advances.”

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) is cited by El Mundo as agreeing with that assessment, saying “Ukrainian forces have advanced recently in several sectors, forcing Russian forces to redistribute reserves,” which “complicates Moscow's offensive planning.”

As the front stays frozen, the sources also foreground competing narratives about negotiations and the scale of losses.

“C à vous: Patrick Cohen's editorial - Against Ukraine, Russia's war of attrition”

France TV

tv5monde says peace negotiations “pushed by Donald Trump, remain at an impasse,” and it reports that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said it is “long past time to end the bloodshed.”

In Kyiv’s framing, France 24 reports that commemorations were held in Kyiv on the anniversary and quotes Volodymyr Zelensky saying, “Putin has not achieved his objectives and has not broken the Ukrainians,” and adding that he would “do everything possible to achieve peace and to ensure that justice is done.”

El Mundo describes the psychological and political dimension at the front, saying “In the cities, Ukrainians feel the world is looking at Iran, while they lose all hope in peace talks.”

On the Russian side, tv5monde reports that Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov “contested these figures,” saying that such reports cannot be considered “reliable information” and that “only the Russian Defense Ministry is authorized to provide information on losses.”

The same tv5monde account provides a detailed casualty picture, stating “Nearly 15,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed and more than 40,600 injured, according to the latest UN tally,” and that Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged “the deaths of 55,000 Ukrainian soldiers since 2022.”

The sources diverge in how they frame the war’s meaning, even when describing overlapping realities.

El Mundo emphasizes operational dynamics and the way Kyiv “interfere[s] with Russian operational plans” by forcing Moscow to “redistribute forces,” and it argues that “Ukraine is slowing the Russian push at key points — at a high cost for Moscow — without yet altering the general balance of the war.”

Quotidiano Nazionale

tv5monde, by contrast, stresses the macro picture of stagnation and territorial arithmetic, saying Moscow has gained only “about 1.3% more Ukrainian territory since the start of 2023” and that the front has “largely ceased moving” since early 2023.

Les blogs du Diplo frames the conflict through a “trench war” lens, saying “TACTICAL BLOCKAGE IS TOTAL: this stagnation can last a very long time,” and describing a “death zone” “constantly overflown by drones from both sides.”

Quotidiano Nazionale presents the war and diplomacy as competing “cornerstone” positions, quoting Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov that Kiev’s non-membership in NATO was “the cornerstone of the negotiations,” while also stating that for Zelensky “Ukraine will not recognize Donbas as Russian territory, neither de jure nor de facto.”

France 24’s framing is more political and commemorative, quoting Zelensky on the anniversary and describing that “dozens of European leaders traveled to the Ukrainian capital to reaffirm their support for Kyiv.”

The stakes described across the sources extend from territorial control to sanctions and the endurance of societies.

“Rome, December 17, 2025 – The Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said a few days ago that Kiev's non-membership in NATO was 'the cornerstone of the negotiations,' but as emerges from the peace talks, there would be another cornerstone: the future of Donbas”

Quotidiano Nazionale

tv5monde says Russia occupies “nearly a fifth of Ukrainian territory,” and it specifies that Moscow has captured “almost the entire Luhansk region and about 83 percent of Donetsk,” while also occupying “Large portions of the southern Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions” and smaller portions of “the Sumy, Kharkiv, and Dnipropetrovsk regions.”

RMC

It adds that “Peace negotiations… remain at an impasse,” and it reports that EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas lamented that “a Hungarian veto blocks the adoption of a 20th sanctions package against Moscow,” while Macron insisted, “We must move forward on the 20th sanctions package of the European Union and discussions will be held in the coming days.”

El Mundo ties the operational stakes to specific strategic targets, saying Pokrovsk and Chasiv Yar were to be “the entry routes into the Ukrainian fortress,” and that Ukraine’s advances in the southeast “indirectly affect the Russian strategic axis toward Pokrovsk and the fortified line of Donetsk.”

Les blogs du Diplo portrays the human stakes as a grinding system, quoting CSIS estimates that Ukrainian losses since February 2022 total “a total of 500,000 to 600,000 soldiers killed, wounded or missing; and 1.2 million in Russia,” and it describes fighters as holed up in a “band 10 to 20 kilometers wide.”

Even where the sources discuss possible diplomatic endpoints, Quotidiano Nazionale says a third option remains on the table, supported by the United States, involving “Kiev's withdrawal of troops” and “the creation of a free economic and demilitarized zone” subject to referendum approval.