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Ellos perdieron muchos territorios, los cuales deben de estar vacíos hoy.

Ellos perdieron muchos territorios, los cuales deben de estar vacíos hoy.
They lost many territories, which must be empty today.
From Lesson 368:Formal relative pronouns (el cual / la cual)·Spanish (Spain)

Questions & Answers about Ellos perdieron muchos territorios, los cuales deben de estar vacíos hoy.

Why do we use los cuales here instead of just que?
los cuales is a formal relative pronoun meaning 'which'. In non-defining relative clauses (the ones set off by commas that just add extra information), you can use el cual and its variations instead of que to sound more formal or literary. Here, it is masculine plural to agree with territorios.
What is the difference between deben estar and deben de estar?
Adding de after deber changes the meaning from obligation ('must' as in 'have to') to probability or supposition ('must' as in 'it is highly likely'). So, deben de estar vacíos means 'they are probably empty', not 'they are required to be empty'.
Why use estar with vacíos instead of ser?
Estar is used to describe the physical state or condition of the territories at a specific time (in this case, hoy). Emptiness is treated as a state or the result of an action, so Spanish always uses estar vacío, never ser vacío.
Do we really need the pronoun Ellos at the beginning of the sentence?
Not strictly. Since perdieron is the third-person plural conjugation, you could perfectly well say Perdieron muchos territorios. Using Ellos just adds emphasis or clarifies exactly who lost the territories if it was not already obvious from the conversation.

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