Russia’s Chief of the General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, claimed that Russian forces took control of 29 settlements and 636 square kilometres in June, presenting the month as one of sustained battlefield gains across multiple sectors. In the briefing, he said the offensive continued in Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Sumy, Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk-related directions, while also describing efforts to expand what Moscow calls security lines near the border.

Andrey Marochko specified that in June Russian forces had liberated 20 settlements, including ten in the DPR

Russian forces occupied 84 square kilometres of Ukrainian territory in June. However, if areas liberated by Ukraine's defence forces are taken into account, the net change in…