Moscow captured an area four times the size of Kyiv in 2024. RFE/RL photojournalist Serhiy Nuzhnenko took these images just before Russian troops moved in.
Over the course of 2024, the Ukrainian authorities lost control over at least 3,600 square kilometers of territory according to calculations by the Militarniy portal based on open data from the DeepState map.
The Russian Army advanced in all directions: in the Kherson, Zaporizhzhya, and Luhansk regions, and most of all, in the Donetsk and Kharkiv regions. The peak came in November when Russian troops captured some 610 square kilometers -- more than in the whole of 2023.
Vuhledar in Ukraine's Donetsk region was captured in October 2024 and only ruins remained of the town. The battle for Vuhledar lasted two years. This photo shows destroyed residential buildings in Vuhledar in September 2023.
A burned residential building in Avdiyivka, Donetsk region, in November 2023. In the last weeks of the battle for the town, which ended in February 2024, no building remained intact. According to a local Ukrainian commander, the occupation of the town cost Russia 47,000 soldiers. The Russian authorities do not openly talk about the losses of their army in individual battles and the war in general.
A Ukrainian soldier in Avdiyivka stands near the damaged steelwork of an "I Love Avdiyivka" sign in November 2023, when RFE/RL photojournalist Serhiy Nuzhnenko visited for the last time before the occupation of the city. The Russian Army captured Avdiyivka in February 2024, the final stage of the battle lasting more than five months.
This house in the village of Prechystivka, near Vuhledar, was destroyed in May 2023. Russian troops occupied the settlement in September 2024.
A mural reading "Russians, congratulations, you are in hell" in Nyu-York in Ukraine's Donetsk region in April 2022. Russia announced the capture of Nyu-York in August 2024, but in September the Ukrainian Army reported fighting in the village. According to the DeepState map, Nyu-York has been completely under Russian occupation since October.
Donetsk region, June 2023. The village of Blahodatne was one of those liberated by the Ukrainian Army during Ukraine's military counteroffensive in the summer of 2023, when Nuzhnenko took this photo. In December 2024, Blahodatne was reoccupied.
Streets of the city of Selydove, near Pokrovsk in Ukraine's Donetsk region. The photo was taken on October 9, 2024, and on October 31, Selydove was under occupation.
A local resident of the village of Terny, Donetsk region, stands near his house in March 2023. Fighting over the heavily damaged village began in January 2023. It was under full occupation as of early this year.
A bicycle in Vuhledar in Ukraine's Donetsk region. This small town with its multistory buildings is located on a hill, which gave the Ukrainian Army an advantage in fighting and made it possible to repel mechanized assaults.
According to the DeepState map, Chasiv Yar in Ukraine's Donetsk region is partially occupied by Russian troops. The photo shows the Kanal district, which they captured in July 2024. The battle for the town began after the occupation of Bakhmut in May 2023 and continues to this day.
After capturing Avdiyivka, Russian troops moved onward. This photo was taken on the road between Avdiyivka and the village of Berdychi in November 2023. The occupation of Berdychi was confirmed by the Ukrainian Army in April 2024.
An area in the district of Kurakhove in Ukraine's Donetsk region in May 2024. At that time, spring field work continued there. This area was occupied in November 2024 and the district's administrative center, Kurakhove, was occupied in January this year.
Rita with her cat in Avdiyivka. Their fate is unknown. About 900 civilians were in Avdiyivka at the time of the occupation. People lived in basements and used humanitarian aid to survive when it was still possible to deliver it. Before the war, about 30,000 people lived in Avdiyivka.
In July 2024, battles began for the village of Vozdvyzhenka in Ukraine's Donetsk region. Shortly before in May 2024, Nuzhnenko photographed the aftermath of the shelling of an agricultural enterprise near Vozdvyzhenka. As of January, Vozdvyzhenka was already under occupation.
The land of the Donetsk region near the village of Kostiantynivka. It was occupied in September 2024, four months after this picture was taken.
A woman is evacuated from Novohrodivka, Donetsk region, in August 2024. Russian troops occupied the town 20 days after this photo was taken. The man on the right is Owen, a volunteer from New Zealand. A former combat medic, he came to Ukraine to help save people.
