Battle of Donbas (2022)
The battle of Donbas was a military offensive that was part of the wider eastern Ukraine campaign of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The offensive began on 18 April 2022 between the armed forces of Russia and Ukraine for control of the Donbas region. Military analysts consider the campaign to have been the second strategic phase of the invasion, after Russia's initial three-pronged attack into Ukraine.
| Battle of Donbas | |||||||||
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| Part of the eastern Ukraine campaign of the Russian invasion of Ukraine | |||||||||
Military situation as of 3 August 2022: pink highlights areas held by Russia and its proxies, yellow highlights areas held by the Ukrainian government. | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
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Russia Donetsk People's Republic Luhansk People's Republic | Ukraine | ||||||||
| Units involved | |||||||||
| See order of battle | See order of battle | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 55,000–70,000 (total number of troops in Ukraine, mid-April) | 40,000–50,000 (in Donbas, mid-April) | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
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~5,154+ civilians killed, 5,605+ wounded Reports vary widely. See Casualties for more details. | |||||||||
Russia's strategy in the sector was to encircle Ukrainian troops in the Donbas and to annex the entire Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts to the Russian-backed separatist states of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People's Republic (LPR). Russia claimed to have controlled 55% of Donetsk Oblast by 23 June 2022 and all of Luhansk Oblast by 3 July 2022, with Russian and separatist forces controlling the cities of Mariupol, Sievierodonetsk, Lysychansk, Rubizhne, and many others.
The Russian offensive stalled in September 2022 and some of the gains were reversed after Ukraine launched its Kharkiv offensive, with Ukrainian forces recapturing the cities of Lyman and Sviatohirsk in the Donetsk region and Bilohorivka in Luhansk oblast. The Ukrainian counteroffensive also stalled east of the Oskil river, and by November 2022 Russian assaults renewed in Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts.