Russia’s highly anticipated summer 2025 offensive has failed, achieving just 0.3% territorial gain while suffering catastrophic losses. Former Navy SEAL and Kyiv Post correspondent Chuck Pfarrer reports that Russia lost the equivalent of 26 divisions. No major cities were captured, and offensives in Sumy and Kharkiv stalled. The debacle exposes the myth of Russian military dominance and continues to prolong the war due to Western hesitation in fully backing Ukraine, according to the Atlantic Council. They write:

During the early months of 2025, there was much speculation that Russia’s coming summer offensive would prove the decisive campaign of the entire invasion. Many thought the Ukrainian army was already close to collapse, with Putin himself declaring in March that “there are reasons to believe we can finish off” Ukrainian forces. The stage seemed set for Russia to finally break Ukraine’s dogged resistance and win the war.

As August gives way to September, it is now abundantly clear that Putin’s big summer offensive has failed. […]

Russia’s extremely modest recent gains have come at a terrible price. While the Kremlin does not release information about its war dead, conservative estimates of Russian casualties based on open source data suggest catastrophic losses during the summer months numbering tens of thousands. […]

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