Eastern Ukraine campaign

Eastern Ukraine campaign
Part of the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Clockwise from top left: Bombing of Mariupol Theater in Mariupol destroyed Russian tank destroyed near Mariupol Aftermath of a missile strike at Kramatorsk railway station
Date 24 February 2022 – present (2 years, 5 months, 2 weeks and 4 days) Location Eastern Ukraine (Donetsk Oblast, Luhansk Oblast, Kharkiv Oblast) Status Ongoing Russia and pro-Russian separatists control most of Luhansk Oblast as of 21 September 2022[1] and about half of Donetsk Oblast as of 20 September 2022[1] Russia retreats from all of Kharkiv Oblast west of the Oskil River and the strategic city of Lyman Russia captures cities of Soledar, Bakhmut, Marinka and Avdiivka in Donetsk Oblast
Belligerents
Russia  Donetsk People's Republic  Luhansk People's Republic Russian-occupied Kharkiv Oblast	Ukraine  Donetsk Oblast  Luhansk Oblast  Kharkiv Oblast
Commanders and leaders
Vladimir Putin	Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Units involved
See order of battle	See order of battle
Strength
38,000+ soldiers (late March 2022)[2][3][4] 50,000–62,000 soldiers (early April 2022)[5] 10,000–20,000 mercenaries (per European officials, early April 2022)[6][7][8] 300–500 Syrian and Libyan mercenaries (per ISW, early April 2022)[9] 180,000 soldiers (per Ukraine, July 2023)[10]	125,000 soldiers (in eastern Ukraine)[11] 40,000–50,000 (as of the start of the Battle of Donbas)[12]

Ukraine's easternmost oblasts, Donetsk, Luhansk, and Kharkiv, have been the site of an ongoing theatre of operation since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The battle of Donbas was a major offensive in the eastern theatre that took place in mid-2022.^[13] By the culmination of the offensive in July 2022, Russian forces and their separatist allies had captured the cities of Sievierodonetsk,^[14] Lysychansk,^[15] Rubizhne^[16] and Izium.^[17] However, in early September, Ukraine launched a major counteroffensive in the east, which recaptured the cities of Izium, Balakliia, Kupiansk, Sviatohirsk^[18] and the strategic city of Lyman.^[19] The counteroffensive stalled east of the Oskil river, and a campaign in eastern Kharkiv Oblast and western Luhansk Oblast has continued since, though Donetsk Oblast has remained the most active area of the frontline.

In the winter of 2022–2023, Russia focused on capturing the city of Bakhmut, largely destroying the city in one of the bloodiest battles of the war, and fully capturing it in May 2023. In June 2023, Ukraine launched another major counteroffensive across the entire frontline, capturing some Russian positions along Bakhmut's outskirts and in southwestern Donetsk Oblast, though not making the major gains in the Donbas which had been sought. By November 2023, this counteroffensive had largely stalled in the east and Russia began making new offensive operations to capture territory, gaining control of Avdiivka and Marinka in Donetsk Oblast by February 2024.^[20][21] Following the capture of Avdiivka, Russian forces advanced to form a salient northwest of it and captured the settlement of Ocheretyne in April 2024 and began contesting Krasnohorivka, southwest of Donetsk, and Chasiv Yar, west of Bakhmut, and launched an offensive towards the city of Toretsk in June 2024.