Claim in July 2025: “In the battle for Ukraine, the front line is increasingly at a standstill.”
Incorrect: Russian troops continued to make territorial gains in June 2025, according to data provided by both the U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and an online resource that relies on data from Ukraine-based DeepState (DS), which is affiliated with the Ukrainian Defense Ministry—two open sources most of the Western expert community and media tend to rely on for estimates of territorial control in the Russian-Ukrainian war. The rate of Russia’s territorial gains in June 2025 was significantly higher than in May 2025, according to both ISW and DS. It was also higher than the average rate of advance in the preceding five months of 2025 and higher than the average rate of advance in the preceding 18 months, according to ISW and DS. (Fact-check completed on July 24, 2025.)
Source of the claim: The Wall Street Journal (July 13, 2025)
Photo by AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka.