Battle of Sviatohirsk | |||||||
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Part of the eastern Ukraine offensive's battle of Donbas in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine | |||||||
![]() Russian weaponry destroyed following the Ukrainian recapture of Sviatohirsk | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
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Units involved | |||||||
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Casualties and losses | |||||||
Unknown | Russian claim: 300+ killed [5] |
The battle of Sviatohirsk was a military engagement near the city of Sviatohirsk between the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation during the battle for Donbas in 2022.
Some Russian attacks on Izium started taking place from 28 February 2022, with continued rocket strikes by the Russian military starting on 3 March. Eight civilians were killed on 3 March, with the town's central hospital reportedly sustaining significant damage. [6] On 1 April, the Ukrainian military confirmed Izium was under Russian control. [7] [8] [9] The following day, in an interview for Ukrinform , Izium's Deputy Mayor Volodymyr Matsokin claimed that 80% of the city's residential buildings had been destroyed and that there was no power, heating, or water in the city. Kreminna was the first city to fall during the Donbas Offensive that was announced by Russia on 18 April. The Governor of Luhansk Oblast, Serhiy Haidai, reported that 200 civilians were killed, but there could have been more. Ukrainian officials reported on 25 April that Russian forces were killed in an explosion in the Kreminna City Hall by a gas explosion. [10] Russian forces control the city. Fighting continued throughout the night, with heavy artillery fire being shot around the streets. Russian forces later captured the city hall on the 19 April.[ citation needed ] That evening, Haidai reported that the remaining Ukrainian troops withdrew, giving Russian troops full control of the city. [11] By 27 May, most of the city of Lyman came under Russian control. [12]
On 30 May 2022, as a result of shelling of the town of Sviatohirsk, the Holy Dormition Sviatohirsk Lavra was damaged, two monks of this monastery and a nun were killed, three monks were injured. [13] On the evening of 30 May, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation launched a much more massive ground attack with fierce artillery strikes on the city. During the day on 31 May, the infantry troops of the Russian Federation launched an assault on Sviatohirsk with the aim of encircling the entire city and forming a cauldron. [13]
On 4 June, a large-scale fire broke out in the grounds of the Holy Dormition Lavra, and the flames engulfed the main shrine of the monastery; the Ukrainians blamed Russian forces for starting the fire. [14]
During 3-4 June, the strikes became more intense. The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation announced on 6 June that it had taken full control over the city of Sviatohirsk and Sviatohirsk Lavra. [16] On 8 June, the ISW confirmed that Russian forces had advanced to the city, but acknowledged it was unclear if their forces have entirely seized Sviatohirsk. [17] On 9 June, Ukrainian media claimed that Russian forces had captured a part of the city and that another western section was still in Ukrainian control. [18] However, later reports confirmed the town had been seized by the Russian military. [1]
On 10 September, shortly after the recapture of Izium by Ukrainian troops, Russian sources reported that an attack was being conducted by the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the town of Svyatohirsk. On the 12th, the Ukrainian National Guard reported that they had recaptured the town. [19]
According Security Service of Ukraine, a place of illegal detention of people was found near the Sviatohirsk Lavra, with items indicating signs of torture. [20]
Sievierodonetsk, also spelled Severodonetsk, is a city in Luhansk Oblast, eastern Ukraine. It is located to the northeast of the left bank of the Donets river and approximately 110 km (68 mi) to the northwest from the administrative center of the oblast, Luhansk. Sievierodonetsk faces neighbouring Lysychansk across the river. The city, whose name comes from the above-mentioned river, had a population of 99,067, making it then the second-most populous city in the oblast. Since June 2022, it has been militarily occupied and administered by Russia.
Kreminna is a city in Sievierodonetsk Raion, Luhansk Oblast, eastern Ukraine. Prior to 2020, it served as the administrative center of former Kreminna Raion. Its population was estimated at 18,116, as of January 2022.
Sviatohirsk or Svyatogorsk is a city in the northern part of the Donetsk Region of Ukraine. A part of the Sloviansk Municipality, it stands on the banks of the Siverskyi Donets River, 30 kilometers (19 mi) from the city of Sloviansk. The population is 4,226. The 16th-century Sviatohirsk Lavra Monastery is located in the city.
The Holy Mountains Lavra of the Holy Dormition is a major Orthodox Christian monastery on the steep right bank of the Siverskyi Donets River. The name comes from the surrounding Holy Mountains; the Holy Dormition is another term for the death of the Virgin Mary.
The eastern Ukraine campaign is a theatre of operation in the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine affecting oblasts in eastern Ukraine: Donetsk Oblast and Luhansk Oblast and Kharkiv Oblast. The invasion is an escalation or intensification of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which had been waging between Ukraine and Russian proxies since 2014.
The battle of Rubizhne was a military engagement that started on 15 March 2022 and ended on 12 May 2022 during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, as part of the eastern Ukraine offensive and the battle of Donbas.
The battle of Izium was a military engagement between Russia and Ukraine that occurred as part of the eastern Ukraine offensive during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The battle started in March 2022 for control of the town of Izium due to the town's importance as a transportation node. The Russian military wanted to capture Izium so its forces in Kharkiv Oblast could link up with their troops in the Donbas region.
The battle of Donbas was a military offensive that is 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.
The battle of Sievierodonetsk was a military engagement in the wider battle of Donbas of the Eastern Ukraine offensive during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The battle of Popasna was a military engagement during the Eastern Ukraine campaign as part of the Battle of the Donbas, the battle began on March 3, 2022, and ended on May 7, 2022.
The battle of Kreminna was a military engagement between Russia and Ukraine over the Eastern Ukrainian city of Kreminna. It is regarded as the first battle during the battle of Donbas.
The battle of Marinka is an ongoing battle in the city of Marinka between the Armed Forces of Russia and the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Shelling of the town intensified before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and fighting began in the town on 17 March. By November 2022, much of the town was destroyed, with no civilians remaining and few buildings left standing from the fighting.
Bohorodychne is a village in Kramatorsk Raion (district) in Donetsk Oblast of south-eastern Ukraine, at about 120 kilometres (75 mi) north-northwest from the centre of Donetsk city, on the right bank of the Siverskyi Donets river.
The Sloviansk offensive was a series of military engagements in villages south of the town of Izium, including the villages of Bohorodychne, Dovhenke, and Krasnopillia between the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation during the battle of Donbas that started following the Russian victory at the battle of Izium. This offensive was part of a longer-term Russian drive towards Sloviansk and of a larger attempted encirclement of Ukraine's Donbas.
The battle of Toshkivka was an armed conflict around the city of Toshkivka, a mountainous municipality in the Sievierodonetsk Raion of Luhansk Oblast, as part of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The 2022 Kharkiv counteroffensive was a major counteroffensive operation during the Russian invasion of Ukraine that began on 6 September 2022. Following the launch of the Kherson counteroffensive in southern Ukraine in late August, Ukrainian forces began a second counteroffensive in early September in Kharkiv Oblast, in Eastern Ukraine.
The battle of Balakliia was a battle of the Ukrainian Kharkiv counteroffensive that began on September 6, 2022.
The second battle of Lyman was a military engagement during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as part of the 2022 Kharkiv counteroffensive. The battle started on 10 September 2022 during the counteroffensive and ended three weeks later on 2 October. By 30 September, Ukrainian forces had closed in on the city after crossing the Siverskyi Donets River, advancing along Lyman's southern and eastern flanks while capturing land northwest of the settlement, allowing Ukrainian forces to cut off the only road left supplying the occupying forces from the north. On 1 October, Ukrainian forces entered Lyman after a Russian withdrawal.
Since 2 October 2022, a military campaign has taken place along a 60-km frontline in western parts of Luhansk Oblast and far-eastern parts of Kharkiv Oblast amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Also known as the Svatove–Kreminna line or the Kupiansk–Svatove–Kreminna line after the major settlements along the front, the campaign began a day after the Ukrainian Army recaptured the nearby city of Lyman during the Kharkiv counteroffensive.