UKRAINE MAP. After its retreats from Kharkiv and Kherson, Russia continues its attack on the city of Bakhmout, while many Ukrainians remain without electricity. Find below several maps retracing the evolution of the war in Ukraine.
[Mis à jour le 2 décembre 2022 à 13h37] Russia has been waging a war in Ukraine for more than nine months. As a reminder, the conflict started on February 24, 2022, when Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of the country in what he called a “special military operation”. The conflict is now concentrated in eastern and southern Ukraine. After rapid advances at the start of the conflict, in February and March, the conflict stalled. Russia even suffered two humiliating setbacks, being forced to withdraw its armed forces from Kharkiv (north-east) in September, and from Kherson (south) in November, after victorious counter-offensives by the Ukrainian army.
Russia is now concentrating its forces in the city of Bakhmout, located in Donetsk Oblast, southeastern Ukraine. On Wednesday, November 30, Moscow forces claimed responsibility for the capture of three villages around Bakhmout, according to information reported by West France. The Russian soldiers benefit in this zone from the support of the paramilitary group Wagner. This battle around Bakhmout has taken on a symbolic dimension due to recent Russian withdrawals in Kharkiv and Kherson. The Institute for the study of war, a US-based think tank, says this concentration of the Russian military around Bakhmout shows that “Russian forces have failed to learn the lessons of previous murderous campaigns, focused on objectives of limited operational or strategic importance”.
Since mid-October, Russia has carried out several airstrikes on Ukrainian territory, with missile fire targeting the country’s civilian and energy infrastructure. The last massive strikes date back to November 24. “Russia has destroyed 40% of the Ukrainian energy system with terrorist missile attacks”, announced the private energy operator DTEK, Thursday, December 1 on Telegram. Information reported by franceinfo. In the heart of winter, many Ukrainians find themselves without electricity, and therefore live in the dark and without heating, including in kyiv, the country’s capital. The Ukrainian General Staff also reports that Russia plans to launch a new mobilization campaign during the months of January and February 2023, according to information reported by West France. For this, Moscow could release in advance, at the beginning of next year, the cadets of its military schools.
After nine months of war, the human losses are substantial on both sides of the conflict. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said on Thursday 1 December that, according to official estimates by the Ukrainian general staff, between 10,000 and 13,000 Ukrainian soldiers have died since the start of the conflict. Figures reported by Point. On the Russian side, Moscow’s last announcement of its losses dates from last September, when Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu assured that 5,937 soldiers had been killed since the start of the war. However, both kyiv and Moscow’s estimates could be minimized so as not to impact the morale of their armed forces. In November, US Chief of Staff General Mark Milley estimated that more than 100,000 Russian troops had been killed or wounded since February 24, and that the scale of casualties was likely similar on the Kyiv side. . You can consult below several maps retracing the evolution of the war in Ukraine, in order to follow the conflict in real time and as best as possible.
Map of the war in Ukraine in real time
About 3000 kilometers from France, difficult to understand everything about the real-time evolution of the conflict. Thus, maps play a major role in allowing the general public to know, at a glance, the day-to-day situation in Ukraine. One in particular provides one of the best daily explanations: the one developed by the institute for the study of waran American study group producing maps and reports on the various conflicts in the world.
The map (to be found below), clear, does not detail the places of the fighting between the Ukrainian and Russian armies, but updates in real time the advance of Russia (red zone), the zones in which Russia claims to have control (yellow), the territories on which Ukraine claimed to have launched a counter-offensive (blue). The black areas correspond to the territories already controlled by the Russians since 2014 (Crimea in the south, part of Donbass in the east).
Other maps on the war in Ukraine
Map in French on the war in Ukraine:
Beyond the Institute for the study of war, many other organizations offer daily or weekly maps on the evolution of the war in Ukraine. This is particularly the case with the French Ministry of Defence, which offers regular situation updates (to be found here). Otherwise, The world offers a weekly follow-up with a menu that changes every week.
On Twitter, the maps and situation reports of the historian and former soldier Michel Goya, who became a columnist for BFMTV, are among the most complete. These documents, based on War Mapper maps, are also available on his blog. Abroad, the sites of the New York Times and the Washington Post, the two leading American media, also offer up-to-date maps.
Foreign maps on the war in Ukraine:
One of the most valuable documents currently available online is the map drawn up by Liveuamap.coman independent Ukrainian platform that compiles and cross-checks information from media sources and social media and allows you to view, in real time or almost, the clashes and strikes that follow one another in the country.
Another interactive map published on MapHub allows to visualize the attacks of Russia and the acts of defense of Ukraine since the beginning of the conflict. The tool, which lists hundreds of events to date, is overseen by the Center for Information Resilience (CIR), an independent UK-based not-for-profit company that is also dedicated to identifying, tackling and exposing influence operations. The CIR aims to “raise awareness of the threat that influence operations, including disinformation, pose to democracy and objective truth, and to help counter them”.
The UK Ministry of Defense also delivers very regular reports on the situation in Ukraine. In addition to the “Intelligence updates” (updates of information on the ground) delivered on his Twitter accountthere are also maps summarizing the day-to-day situation.
On the side of the foreign media, the Kyiv Independenta newspaper from the Ukrainian capital, regularly reports, as does the BBCin the United Kingdom, which also has a page allowing you to follow the fighting in Ukraine, just like the FinancialTimes. So many sources that provide information on the evolution of the war in Ukraine.