Eastern Ukraine campaign

Ukraine's easternmost oblasts, Donetsk, Luhansk, and Kharkiv, are the site of a theatre of operation in the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.

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.

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. Russia claimed to have fully captured Bakhmut in May 2023, despite ongoing Ukrainian counterattacks on the city's outskirts. In June 2023, Ukraine launched another major counteroffensive across the entire frontline, capturing Russian positions along Bakhmut's outskirts and in southwestern Donetsk Oblast. However, by November 2023, the counteroffensive had largely stalled in the east and Russia began counterattacking to recapture territory, alongside renewed offensives to capture Avdiivka and Marinka.