The intensity of combat operations in Ukraine has been on the up significantly, compared with previous weeks. Whereas in earlier weeks the average number of daily engagements were in the 130–160 range, as of Friday morning that figure had risen to 223 combat contacts per day, almost a doubling, Kiviselg noted.

Overnight March 17–18 there were already more than 230 combat contacts; 24 hours later the figure had risen to more than 280. All of this implies the beginning of a spring offensive by Russian forces, Kiviselg noted.

Speaking at Friday's regular Ministry of Defense press conference, Kiviselg said: "The fiercest fighting continued to take place in Donetsk oblast, in the area around Pokrovsk, as well as in the directions of Kostyantynivka and Sloviansk, and in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, toward Hulyaipole," Kiviselg said.

Russian forces have made advances toward Hulyaipole, Sloviansk, and to a lesser extent Kupiansk, in Kharkiv oblast. Ukrainian forces, however, made progress with counterattacks in the directions of Kostyantynivka, Donetsk oblast, and Oleksandrivka, Kherson oblast.

Russia has also seen a surge in losses, however.

"To sum up, it can be stated that the Russian Federation has managed to make somewhat more progress this week, especially in the second half of the week, though this advance amounts to around 40 square kilometers over the week. At the same time, the Russians have lost about 200 soldiers for every square kilometer captured. Daily losses on some days exceeded 1,700 personnel,"

Kiviselg said, adding that Russia launched nearly 1,300 drones and 70 missiles over the past week. This included one particularly intense air strike in which 450 drones and 70 missiles were launched all at once, often hitting civilian targets.

"Russia's primary targets were Ukraine's critical civilian infrastructure across several regions, and as a result of the attacks, power outages occurred in at least 12 regions. Despite the attacks, Ukrainians continue to repair outages and restore electricity capacity," Kiviselg went on.

Ukraine's precision strikes reaching every region of Russia

Fortunately, Ukraine is also carrying out plenty of accurate strikes of its own.

According to Kiviselg, key targets here have included chemical plants in Stavropol Krai in the North Caucasus and Kirov oblast; aircraft and repair plants in Ulyanovsk and Novgorod oblasts, and fuel industry facilities in Bashkortostan and Krasnodar Krai, along with an airbase in the Republic of Adygea, all in southern Russia.

Ukraine's precision strike capabilities have made so much progress that they have drawn comment from former Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. He has acknowledged that virtually no region of European Russia is safe from Ukrainian long-range strikes any longer, including targets in the Urals. Shoigu noted that while Ukraine carried out about 6,200 deep strikes into Russia in 2024, that number had effectively quadrupled in 2025 to 23,000.

Kiviselg also addressed Tuesday's major explosion near Pskov, which lies only around 40 kilometers from the Estonian border. "We can confirm that a landscape fire broke out in the area and spread close to Russian military facilities where, among other things, ammunition is stored. The fire did not damage these facilities, but the causes of the incident remain unclear," Kiviselg said on this.

Russia getting 11,000 shells a day from North Korea

Kiviselg also touched on a study conducted by the OpenSource Centre X and investigative journalism outlet Istories, which has taken a look at North Korea's support for Russia's war effort and its strategic potential in creating reserves and stockpiles.

"Based on the amassed data, North Korea has supplied Russia with between eight and eleven million artillery shells and rockets since mid-2023. The peak of deliveries occurred in the second half of 2023. If these deliveries are averaged out to the present day, the Russian Federation has been receiving about 350,000 shells per month from North Korea. This amounts to roughly 11,000 shells a day, covering Russia's needs on the Ukrainian front," Kiviselg outlined.

"This means that, taking into account support from other countries and its own output capacity, Russia is already able to produce ammunition reserves during the war in Ukraine. This has also been highlighted by the Foreign Intelligence Service in its report this year. Strategic reserves are already being replenished during wartime, which is of critical importance in view of potential future conflicts. This must certainly be taken into account when strengthening deterrence in the eastern direction," Kiviselg said.

North Korean soldiers first started appearing in the Ukraine war in the fall of 2024, fighting on the Russian side and generally under Russian command and wearing Russian uniforms, even as they frequently don't speak Russian.

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