Eastern front of the Russo-Ukrainian war (2022–present)

• 1. Introduction

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  The eastern front of the Russo-Ukrainian war opened on the 24th of February 2022. Vladimir Putin announced what he called a "special military operation," and Russian forces crossed into Kharkiv, Donetsk, and Luhansk oblasts. Residents in Kharkiv were volunteering for military service within hours of the invasion's start. A Russian missile struck the Chuhuiv air base, home to Ukraine's Bayraktar TB2 drone fleet. What followed was a sequence of sieges, counteroffensives, and grinding attritional battles across a front hundreds of miles long. Could Russia take the industrial heartland of eastern Ukraine? And could a private army of mercenaries win what a regular military could not?

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• 2. The Opening Assault

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  On the 25th of February 2022, the Russian Navy launched an amphibious assault from the Sea of Azov coast, 70 kilometers from Mariupol. On land that same day, Russian and separatist forces advanced toward Mariupol from Donetsk People's Republic territory. They met Ukrainian defenders near the village of Pavlopil, where Ukrainian forces destroyed at least 20 Russian tanks. Mariupol mayor Vadym Boychenko reported that Russian bombardment had struck schools and apartment buildings by the 26th of February. Ukrainian authorities stated that 34 civilians had been killed in Mariupol by Russian shelling in a single 24-hour period ending on the 3rd of March.

  On the 9th of March, the Russian Air Force bombed a Mariupol building serving as a maternity ward and children's hospital. The strike killed five civilians and injured 17 more. Donetsk Oblast governor Pavlo Kyrylenko described Volnovakha as undergoing a humanitarian crisis, with Russian shelling having practically destroyed the entire city. By the 12th of March, the Associated Press independently confirmed that Volnovakha had fallen to Russian and pro-Russian separatist forces.

  In Luhansk Oblast, governor Serhiy Haidai stated by the 8th of March that Russian forces had occupied 70 percent of the region. A convoy of 60 Russian vehicles had entered the city of Starobilsk through fields near the villages of Shulhynka, Omelkove, and Khvorostianivka. Inside the city, residents carrying Ukrainian flags confronted the soldiers and sang the national anthem. After talks with locals, the troops withdrew. By the 22nd of March, Leonid Pasechnik, the head of the Luhansk People's Republic, claimed his forces controlled "almost 80%" of the Luhansk region's territory.

  Hennadiy Matsegora, the mayor of Kupiansk, agreed to hand his city over to Russian forces, accusing Ukrainian soldiers of having abandoned it at the invasion's start. Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova later charged him with treason. On the 25th of March, the Russian defence ministry stated it was ready to begin a second phase of military operations. The stated aim was to occupy major Ukrainian cities in the east.

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• 3. Kharkiv: A City Holds

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  On the 26th of February, Kharkiv Oblast governor Oleh Syniehubov announced that Kharkiv remained under Ukrainian control and imposed a curfew on the city. Russian light vehicles broke into Kharkiv overnight on the 27th of February. Ukrainian forces reportedly destroyed half of them in the fighting that followed. Russian paratroopers descended on the city in the early morning of the 2nd of March, clashing with Ukrainian forces near a military hospital. By the 4th of March, Ukraine had launched a counterattack in Kharkiv Oblast, reportedly driving Russian forces back toward Sumy Oblast. On the 7th of March, Ukraine claimed to have killed Russian Maj. Gen. Vitaly Gerasimov in fighting near Kharkiv.

  Ukraine launched a large-scale counter-offensive at Kharkiv on the 30th of April, retaking suburbs and towns over the following days. By the 4th of May, Russian forces had been pushed back far enough that most of their artillery could no longer reach the city. On the 6th of May, the Institute for the Study of War reported that Ukraine had retaken several villages on "a broad arc" near Kharkiv, including Tsyrkuny and Peremoha. Ukrainian forces reached the Russia-Ukraine border near Kharkiv on the 15th of May. The Institute for the Study of War assessed on the 14th of May that "Ukraine thus appears to have won the battle of Kharkiv."

  After retreating, Russian forces continued shelling Kharkiv's suburbs and the city itself from defensive positions within miles of the international border. On the 20th of May, Russian forces shelled several Kharkiv district villages using BM-21 Grad, BM-27 Uragan, and BM-30 Smerch rocket launchers. The city of Kharkiv itself was among the targets. Russian forces maintained positions on the west bank of the Seversky Donets River, protecting communication lines along the Izium axis.

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• 4. The Fall of Luhansk

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  By the 25th of March, Russian-backed separatists controlled 93 percent of Luhansk Oblast and 54 percent of Donetsk Oblast, according to the Russian defence ministry. After Russia abandoned its offensive to capture Kyiv, it redirected tens of thousands of troops toward eastern Ukraine. Russia launched repeated attacks on Sievierodonetsk, Popasna, and Rubizhne from the 10th of April, seeking to break through Ukrainian defenses. On the 18th of April, Zelensky announced that "the battle for Donbas had begun," as Russian forces launched an offensive across a 300-mile front. Russian officials stated that 1,260 military targets were hit by rockets and artillery in the initial bombardment.

  On the 7th of May, Russian forces captured Popasna and began working to encircle Sievierodonetsk. On the 12th of May, they seized Rubizhne. After a fierce month-long battle that ruined much of the city, Russian and LPR forces captured Sievierodonetsk on the 25th of June. The battle of Lysychansk began the same day and ended in a Russian victory on the 2nd of July. Russian and LPR forces declared full control of the entire Luhansk region the following day. The Russian military then announced an "operational pause" to rest and resupply front-line forces.

  The Guardian reported on the 4th of July that Russian invasion troops would next target the cities of Sloviansk and Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast. On the 9th of July, during the Russian operational pause, a rocket attack on two residential buildings in Chasiv Yar killed at least 48 people.

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• 5. The September Reversal

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  On the 6th of September 2022, Ukrainian forces launched a surprise counter-offensive on the Kharkiv front. Over the days that followed, Russian forces retreated more than 1,000 square kilometers east. On the 8th of September, Ukrainian forces recaptured more than 20 settlements in Kharkiv Oblast, including the towns of Balakliia and Shevchenkove. The General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported that Ukrainian forces had penetrated Russian defense positions by up to 50 kilometers.

  Ukrainian forces reached the outskirts of Kupiansk on the 9th of September. They destroyed the main bridge over the Oskil River in the city center, cutting off Russian ability to reinforce or retreat. On the morning of the 10th of September, Ukrainian soldiers raised a Ukrainian flag in front of Kupiansk's town hall. That same day, the city of Izium fell to Ukrainian forces, with thousands of Russian soldiers abandoning ammunition stockpiles and equipment as they fled. On the 11th of September, the Russian Ministry of Defense formally announced the withdrawal of its forces from the majority of Kharkiv Oblast. Russia retained control only of parts of the region on the east bank of the Oskil River.

  By early October 2022, Ukrainian forces had recaptured several towns in northern Luhansk and northern Donetsk. These included Yatskivka, Hrekivka, Nadiya, Andriivka, and Stelmakhivka, among others. On the 1st of October, Ukrainian forces entered Lyman after a short siege. Russian forces fell back to the P-66 highway near the Kharkiv-Luhansk Oblast border, anchored by the settlements of Svatove and Kreminna. Russia reinforced the Kreminna-Svatove line with two battalions of T-90 tanks and BMPT armored fighting vehicles. By mid-December, Ukraine's 57th Motorized Brigade, 36th Marine Brigade, and 46th Airmobile Brigade had rotated from Kherson to reinforce the Bakhmut front.

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• 6. Bakhmut and the Wagner War

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  Wagner Group fighters, a private military force fighting alongside the Russian army, spearheaded the ground assault into Bakhmut. Wagner broke through Ukrainian defense lines in the salt-mining town of Soledar on the 27th of December 2022, capturing nearby Bakhmutske. Soledar itself fell by the 16th of January 2023, exposing Bakhmut's northeastern defensive flanks. The recapture of Soledar allowed Wagner fighters to assert control over a portion of the T0513 highway toward Siversk.

  Media, government officials, and eyewitnesses described the fighting in Bakhmut as a "meat grinder." Both sides suffered heavy casualties daily with negligible changes on the front line. Ukraine's Eastern Military Command reported that the Bakhmut area was shelled 225 times on the 26th of December 2022 alone. President Zelensky accused Russia of having "destroyed" Bakhmut, saying there was "no residential space that hasn't been damaged by shelling for a long time." On the 7th of March 2023, Ukraine ceded eastern Bakhmut to Russian forces, retreating west of the Bakhmutka River. Wagner claimed to have fully captured Bakhmut on the 20th of May 2023. The group's leader stated that Wagner planned to withdraw and transfer responsibility to regular Russian troops. Ukrainian obituaries had recorded the names of 7,644 Ukrainian servicemen killed during the battle of Bakhmut as of January 2024.

  On the 23rd of June 2023, Wagner launched a one-day armed rebellion against the Russian government, resolved through Belarusian mediation. Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin announced on the 19th of July that the PMC would no longer fight in Ukraine. Prigozhin and two other Wagner commanders died in a plane crash on the 23rd of August 2023. Russia increased its oversight over remaining Wagner forces after his death. By late November 2023, a Ukrainian Ground Forces spokesman reported that "former Wagner Group members" were fighting on the Lyman-Kupiansk front alongside Storm-Z units. They were dispersed among regular Russian formations rather than operating as a unified force.

  A Ukrainian sniper team of 20 men called the "Ghosts of Bakhmut" claimed to have killed 558 Russian soldiers during the battle. Their leader, who used the callsign "Ghost," was reportedly responsible for 113 of those kills.

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• 7. The Avdiivka Campaign

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  In early June 2023, Ukraine launched a large counteroffensive across the frontlines, including on Bakhmut's flanks. The attacks focused on Andriivka, Klishchiivka, and Berkhivka, where Ukrainian forces made what analysts described as "marginal" gains. Dense Russian minefields proved a significant obstacle; Russian forces reportedly used rocket systems to deploy mines in areas that Ukrainian troops had recaptured and cleared. By July 2023, Russian forces were maintaining a largely defensive posture along most of the frontline.

  In early October 2023, Russian forces launched a new offensive against the fortified city of Avdiivka, attempting to encircle it. On the 25th of December 2023, Russian forces captured Marinka, a city reduced by then to what observers described as "post-apocalyptic" ruins. The New York Times reported that the Marinka capture signaled that Russian forces had seized the initiative after Ukraine's largely unsuccessful summer counteroffensive. Russian forces gained more territory overall in 2023 than they lost.

  In late January 2024, Russian forces broke through Ukrainian defenses at Avdiivka and began encircling the 110th Mechanized Brigade, forcing a Ukrainian retreat. Colonel Oleksandr Shtupun stated that the Donetsk front had absorbed 592 artillery strikes in a single 24-hour period around that time. Three missile strikes were launched in the same period, according to Shtupun. On the 13th of April 2024, General Syrskyi stated that the situation on the eastern front had "deteriorated significantly" in recent days. He attributed Russian gains partly to superior enemy weaponry and spoke of the need to train more Ukrainian infantry.

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• 8. The Drive on Pokrovsk

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  Between the 14th and the 16th of April 2024, Russian forces captured the Zarya dachas northwest of Avdiivka. They then established a foothold in the settlement of Ocheretyne, creating a new salient. Russian troops captured Ocheretyne itself by the 28th of April, then rapidly took Novobakhmutivka and Soloviove along its southern flank. By the 5th of May, they had also captured Arkhanhelske, advancing the salient further northward.

  On the 10th of May 2024, Russia launched a fresh offensive in northern Kharkiv Oblast. It used shelling, air strikes, and dismounted infantry to breach defenses in the Vovchansk and Kharkiv directions. On the 17th of May, President Putin stated that Russia aimed to create a "buffer zone" in Kharkiv Oblast to prevent attacks on Belgorod. He denied plans to capture Kharkiv city. By the 23rd of May, General Syrskyi stated that Russian troops in Vovchansk had become "completely bogged down" amid urban combat.

  On the 18th of July 2024, Russian forces entered the settlement of Prohres, west of Ocheretyne, and captured it the following day. Their stated objective was the city of Pokrovsk, a key Ukrainian logistics hub connecting two supply highways. By mid-August 2024, Russia was approximately 10 kilometers from Pokrovsk. On the 27th of August, Russia captured Novohrodivka, nine kilometers east of Pokrovsk, in an engagement reportedly lasting only three days. The following day, Russian forces entered Selydove from the east, also capturing parts of the E50 highway southeast of Pokrovsk. On the 1st of October 2024, Russian forces captured Vuhledar after encircling the city and severing its Ukrainian supply lines.

  Russian forces captured Kurakhove in late December 2024, following two months of fighting. The Kurakhove Power Station came under Russian control in early January 2025. In late January 2025, Russian forces also captured the fortified settlement of Velyka Novosilka. Pokrovsk itself fell in late January 2026. The ISW assessed on the 25th of April 2024 that Chasiv Yar remained the primary target of the spring campaign. Russian forces continued to press toward it from multiple directions as the front stretched further west.

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