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

• 1. Initial Invasion And Kharkiv Front

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  On the 24th of February, after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special military operation in Ukraine, Russian forces crossed the Russia-Ukraine border and began advancing towards Kharkiv. Ukrainian soldiers were deployed to positions along key routes into the city, and residents began volunteering for military service within hours of the invasion. A Russian missile struck the Chuhuiv air base, which housed Bayraktar TB2 drones. According to open-source intelligence, the attack left damage to fuel storage areas and infrastructure. On the 25th of February, fierce fighting continued in the northern outskirts of Kharkiv, especially in the village of Tsyrkuny. By the afternoon, Ukrainian officials stated that Kharkiv was still under Ukrainian control despite the overnight attack by Russian forces. Meanwhile, Hennadiy Matsegora, the mayor of Kupiansk, agreed to hand over control of the city to Russian forces who were threatening to storm it. He was later accused of treason by the Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova. On the 3rd of March, Russian paratroopers landed in Kharkiv during the early morning and started clashing with Ukrainian forces. Clashes also took place near a military hospital of the city as Russian paratroopers descended on it. Kharkiv Oblast's Police Chief Volodymyr Tymoshko later stated that the situation was under control. Russian forces entered the town of Balakliia the same day. On the 4th of March, Ukrainian forces launched a counterattack in Kharkiv Oblast, reportedly pushing the Russian forces towards the Sumy Oblast, and reaching part of the Russia-Ukraine border. By the 7th of March, Ukraine claimed to have retaken Chuhuiv near Kharkiv in a counter-attack overnight.

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• 2. Battle Of Donbas And Luhansk Capture

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  On the 25th of March, the Russian defence ministry stated that it was prepared to begin a second phase of military operations with the aim of occupying major Ukrainian cities in eastern Ukraine. According to the ministry, Russian-backed separatists were in control of 93% of Luhansk Oblast and 54% of Donetsk Oblast. After Russia abandoned its offensive to capture Kyiv, it shifted its attention to eastern and southern Ukraine. The Russian military began redeploying units from northern Ukraine to the east, but many of these troops appeared to be nearly combat-ineffective due to heavy losses. However, Russia still amassed tens of thousands of troops, declaring its aim to fully capture the Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts. It managed to secure Izium on the 1st of April, although heavy fighting continued around the settlement over the next few days. According to local authorities 80% of Izium's residential buildings were destroyed in the battle. On the 3rd of April, according to the Ukrainian government, two Russian soldiers died and 28 others were hospitalized after Ukrainian civilians handed out poisoned cakes to soldiers of the Russian 3rd Motor Rifle Division in Izium. Russia and the pro-Russian separatists continued to besiege Mariupol, where they made little progress. However, Russian troops managed to divide the Ukrainian holdouts in Mariupol into two or three pockets on the 10th of April. At the same time, Russia made concentrated efforts to conquer the strategically important cities of Sievierodonetsk, Popasna, and Rubizhne. It launched repeated attacks on these locations from the 10th of April. Russia made little progress in these attacks, and Ukraine claimed that it had inflicted a heavy defeat on the Russian on the 11th of April. In nearby Kreminna, Ukraine's 128th Brigade claimed to have pushed Russian forces 6-10 kilometers away from the city.

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• 3. The Bakhmut Meat Grinder Campaign

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  On the 27th of December, Wagner broke through Ukrainian defense lines in the salt-mining town of Soledar, capturing Bakhmutske. Soledar itself was taken by the 16th of January 2023, degrading Bakhmut's northeastern defensive flanks. The recapture of Soledar allowed Russian forces, spearheaded by Wagner fighters, to further flank Bakhmut from the northeastern direction and assert control over a portion of the T0513 highway towards Siversk. Defences along Bakhmut's northern flank collapsed as the Ukrainians withdrew from Krasna Hora on the 11th of February. Wagner advanced 2-3 kilometers to the west of Blahodatne, capturing the area near the main M-03 highway leading into Bakhmut. Both the UK Defence Ministry and Ukraine's governor of Donetsk Pavlo Kyrylenko said the Russians were attempting a pincer movement of Bakhmut, enveloping the city from multiple directions and establishing fire control over most Ukrainian supply routes into it. In mid-January, a battle took place in Vodiane. On the 15th of January, around 9-10 in the morning, elements of the DPR's 1st Slovyanska Separate Mechanized Brigade attacked eastern Vodiane from a frozen-over flooded area west of Opytne. These elements were not supported by artillery. At 12pm, a convoy of eight to nine Russian BMP-2s heading towards Ukrainian-controlled west Vodiane was hit by Ukrainian fire, injuring 70% of the soldiers involved, according to the Russian commander of the attack. Two T-72Bs then approached the town, but were destroyed. A third and final attack took place in the afternoon, when some BMPs attempted to drive close to the bridge between Vodiane and Opytne (which had been destroyed during the fighting), but were also destroyed by artillery.

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• 4. Ukrainian Counteroffensive And Stalemate

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  In early June 2023, Ukraine launched a large counteroffensive across the frontlines, including on the flanks of Bakhmut. These attacks focused around areas such as Andriivka, Klishchiivka, and Berkhivka, where Ukrainian forces made marginal gains. Ukraine's progress was notably hindered by dense Russian minefields, with the Russians reportedly using rocket systems to deploy mines in areas that Ukrainian troops had previously recaptured and cleared. By July 2023, Russian forces were largely maintaining a defensive posture along the vast majority of the frontline, with the Luhansk front being one of the few places where they reportedly remained on the offensive. Meanwhile, internal tensions between the Russian defence ministry and the Wagner Group boiled over when the latter launched a one-day rebellion against the Russian government on the 23rd of June, which was concluded with mediation by Belarus. Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin later announced on the 19th of July that the PMC would no longer fight in Ukraine. Russia reportedly increased its oversight over Wagner forces after Prigozhin and two other Wagner commanders died in a plane crash on the 23rd of August. Russian war blog Rybar reported Wagner fighters would return to the Bakhmut axis to help recapture lost positions. On the 27th of September, the Ukrainian military stated that a maximum of several hundred Wagner fighters had returned to Ukraine but dismissed their impact on the battlefield as negligible, describing them as a remnant force no longer fighting as a single unit, being instead dispersed throughout regular Russian units.

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• 5. Russian Winter Offensive And Avdiivka Fall

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  On the 20th of January 2024, Ukrainian spokesperson Colonel Oleksandr Shtupun stated that Russia was focusing its assault operations in Donetsk on Avdiivka and Novomykhailivka, adding that Russian ground assaults were mostly composed of infantry, with very limited armored vehicle support. Russian forces had conducted 592 artillery strikes and launched three missile strikes on the Donetsk front in the past 24 hours, according to Shtupun. In late January, early February 2024, Russian forces broke through Ukrainian defences in Avdiivka and began flanking and encircling troops of the embattled 110th Mechanized Brigade, prompting a Ukrainian retreat and resulting in Russian forces capturing the fortified city after months of deadly fighting. The Russians continued to advance west of Avdiivka, reportedly capturing Lastochkyne, Stepove and Sieverne by the 27th of February. Syrskyi said that the 3rd Assault and 25th Airborne Brigades had pushed Russian troops back from Orlivka on the 29th of February. Clashes also continued for Novomykhailivka, with Russia claiming to have captured Pobieda on the 22nd of February, further threatening Novomykhailivka's northern flank and expanding the buffer zone south of Marinka. In February, March 2024, Russian forces continued offensive operations on the Bohdanivka-Chasiv Yar direction, namely along the O0506 highway, north and northeast of Ivanivske, and by attempting to bypass the heights north and northwest of Klishchiivka, according to Ukrainian military observer Kostyantyn Mashovets.

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• 6. Pokrovsk Axis And Current Frontline Dynamics

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  On the 18th of July 2024, Russian forces entered Prohres, west of Ocheretyne, and captured it on the 19th of July, marking a new phase for the battle northwest of Avdiivka, as Russian forces advanced towards and hoped to seize the city of Pokrovsk, a key Ukrainian logistical hub connecting two supply highways. The situation, described as tense and difficult, and Russian advances in the Pokrovsk front, were attributed to a lack of Ukrainian supplies and manpower. On the 24th of July, a large mechanized assault was launched by Russia towards Kurakhove, with heavy losses; another was launched by Russia towards Kostiantynivka in Pokrovsk Raion the same day, again taking significant losses, but nevertheless gaining a foothold in the village. In August 2024, Russia continued making significant advances in the direction of Pokrovsk, while expanding their control in the area in and around Toretsk. The Pokrovsk front had become the most active area of the frontline as Russia's main goal in eastern Ukraine by early August. Following Ukraine's incursion into Russia's Kursk Oblast in early August 2024, the rate of Russian advance near Pokrovsk increased, where Russian forces at the axis of advance had been bolstered. By mid-August, Russia was reportedly 10 kilometers from Pokrovsk, and continued to advance through settlements east of the city, including in Hrodivka, a town situated on the last line of defense (a line running through Hrodivka, Novohrodivka, Selydove north to south) ahead of Pokrovsk itself.

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