Ukraine's easternmost regions, Donetsk, Luhansk, and Kharkiv, have been the site of an ongoing theatre of operation since the start of the Russo-Ukrainian war in February 2022.
The battle of Donbas was a major offensive in the eastern theatre that took place in mid-2022. By the culmination of the offensive in July 2022, Russian forces and their separatist allies had captured the cities of Sievierodonetsk, Lysychansk, Rubizhne and Izium. However, in early September, Ukraine launched a major counteroffensive in the east, which recaptured the cities of Izium, Balakliia, Kupiansk, Sviatohirsk and the strategic city of Lyman. 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.
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