Ukraine’s Defense Forces have pushed Russian troops back near Zlahoda, Novohryhorivka, Novonikolaivka, Stepne and Ternove, according to the open-source analysis project DeepState. Since the start of the day, 52 attacks have been recorded, along with shelling of border areas in the Sumy and Chernihiv regions and active fighting on several fronts.
The Ukrainian OSINT project DeepState said on March 2 that Ukrainian units forced Russian troops to retreat in several areas of the front — near Zlahoda, Novohryhorivka, Novonikolaivka, Stepne and Ternove. Analysts said Ukrainian forces improved their tactical positions on these axes.
Ukraine’s General Staff said Russian forces continue offensive actions on select fronts. Russian troops are attempting to push deeper into Ukrainian territory with assaults, but Ukrainian units are holding the line and inflicting significant losses, the statement said.
“On the Pokrovsk axis, since the start of the day, the occupiers have tried 13 times to dislodge our soldiers from their positions in the areas of Rodynske, Kotlyne, Udachne, Molodetske, and toward Novopavlivka and Shevchenko. One engagement is still ongoing,” the General Staff said.
Earlier, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi reported a shift on the front in February 2026. He said the Defense Forces withstood a “hard winter battle,” achieving tangible results in recent weeks. Over the winter months, Ukrainian troops eliminated more Russian soldiers than Moscow was able to mobilize, he said. In February 2026, for the first time since the Kursk offensive, Ukraine’s forces regained control of more territory than Russia captured, according to Syrskyi.
Separately, Taras Chmut, a member of the Supervisory Board of the Defense Procurement Agency, said Ukraine had won the “battle for winter.” In his assessment, Ukrainian troops are, for the first time in a long while, liberating more territory than Russian forces are capturing.
