Kyiv, Ukraine - Russia's battlefield gains in Ukraine last year were higher than in any other year except 2022, an AFP analysis showed Friday, as Moscow pressed its advantage against outmanned and outgunned Ukrainian troops.

The Russian army captured over 2,160 square miles, or 0.94%, of Ukrainian territory in 2025, according to an analysis of data from the Institute for the Study of War, which works with the Critical Threats Project.

This includes areas that Kyiv and military analysts say are controlled by Russia, as well as those claimed by Moscow's army.

This is more land than the previous two years combined, though far short of the more than 23,000 square miles it took in the first year of its invasion.

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Russia made its biggest advance in 2025 in November – 270 square miles – whereas the 94 square miles it gained in December was the smallest since March, the data showed.

Ukraine came under intense pressure in 2025, both from Russian bombardment and on the battlefield, where it has steadily ceded ground to Russia's army.

US President Donald Trump, who regularly complains he does not receive credit as a peacemaker, has engaged in talks with both sides in a bid to end the fighting.

But he has so far failed to extract major concessions from the Kremlin – which occupies just under a fifth of Ukraine and demanded Kyiv withdraw from its eastern Donbas region in exchange for peace.

Kyiv says Russia is not interested in peace and is deliberately trying to sabotage diplomatic efforts aimed at ending the war to seize more Ukrainian territory.