# Battle of Siversk

vteRussian invasion of Ukraine :
Timeline
February – April 2022
April – August 2022
August – November 2022
November 2022 – June 2023
June – August 2023
September – November 2023
December 2023 – March 2024
April 2024 – present
Prelude
Casualties
Territorial control
map
War crimes
Attacks on civilians
Economic impact
Peace negotiations
Collaboration with Russia
Russian emigration
Nuclear risk
Humanitarian impacts
Russian annexation
Treatment of prisoners of war :
The battle of Siversk is a military engagement during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, as part of the battle of Donbas of the wider eastern Ukraine offensive, that began on 13 July 2022. Russian forces ceased launching assaults on and around Siversk on 28 July, with a lull in fighting throughout August. Due to Ukrainian gains made from the Kharkiv counteroffensive, Russian forces were unable to make further gains towards Siversk from September 8.

## Background

On 25 June, Russian forces captured Sievierodonetsk and the surrounding villages. Russian forces captured the twin city of Lysychansk on 2 July, fully capturing Luhansk Oblast. On 8 July, the British Ministry of Defense noted a concentration of Russian equipment on the front lines near Siversk, which it suggested could be the target of future offensive operations. A separatist official claimed that Russian forces captured the village of Hryhorivka on 9 July. On 12 July, Russian forces reached to just within a few kilometers of Siversk, although the Ukrainian General Staff claimed that a Russian assault on Spirne and Ivano-Darivka suffered serious losses.

## Battle

An LPR official told TASS on 13 July that Russian and separatist forces had entered Siversk, saying the town could fall "in a couple of days". However, the next day, the Ukrainian military published footage confirming they retained control over the town. Luhansk Oblast governor Serhiy Haidai said that Russian forces were trying to "break into" Siversk through small settlements in order to eventually advance on Bakhmut.
On 15 July, Russian forces launched a failed attack on Verkhnokamyanske and Spirne. Two days later, clashes occurred around Ivano-Darivka, Bilohorivka, and Berestove. On 23 July, the Ukrainian General Staff reported that Russian forces failed to advance in the directions of Verkhnokamyanske and Siversk. According to the ISW, the language of the Ukrainian report suggested that Russian forces may have advanced closer to the outskirts of Siversk itself.
On 28 July, ISW suggested that the Russian force grouping in Donetsk Oblast may have deprioritized attempts to take Siversk in order to capitalize on recent gains near Bakhmut, noting that the Russians had made no confirmed advances towards Siversk since taking control of the Luhansk Oblast in early July.

## Casualties

Four foreign volunteers—two Americans, one Canadian, and one Swede—fighting for Ukraine were killed by tank fire on 22 July during an attempt to clear Russian forces out of a ravine in Hryhorivka, according to territorial defense forces commander Ruslan Miroshnichenko.

## Analysis

On 20 July, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) stated that the Russian grouping in the Siversk area was likely still severely degraded by recent operations to complete the capture of the Luhansk Oblast and was therefore only making slow and grinding progress towards Siversk, and that they were continuing to degrade their own offensive combat power in localized fights for small and relatively unimportant settlements. It was also stated that Russian troops were struggling to move across relatively sparsely-settled and open terrain, and would encounter terrain much more conducive to the Ukrainian defenders the closer they would get to the E40 around Sloviansk and Bakhmut due to the increasing population density and built-up nature of those areas. The ISW concluded that the current Russian offensive in Donbas would likely to culminate somewhere along the E40 in the following weeks.