Battle of Bilohorivka

Battles of Bilohorivka
Part of the eastern Ukraine offensive of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
Date 20 September 2022 – Present (1 year, 10 months and 6 days) Location Bilohorivka, Sievierodonetsk Raion, Luhansk Oblast, Ukraine Status Ongoing
Belligerents
Russia	Ukraine

The battle of Bilohorivka is a military engagement during the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, as part of the eastern Ukraine campaign. It began after a series of Ukrainian victories in the Kharkiv counteroffensive. On September 19, Ukrainian forces drove Russian forces back to the outskirts of Bilohorivka, where Russian troops dug in, creating a strong line of defence for the strategically important city of Lysychansk.

Background

Further information: Battle of Donbas (2022), Battle of the Siverskyi Donets, and Bilohorivka school bombing

The Bilohorivka school after the Russian bombing in May 2022

On 18 April 2022, Ukrainian and Russian authorities announced the beginning of the battle of Donbas, a large-scale Russian push to capture the entire Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts. The next day, Russian troops captured the town of Kreminna, consolidating their initial positions for a possible landing attack on Bilohorivka from the north across the Siverskyi Donets River.

Between May 5 and 13, Russian forces began a series of military engagements known as the battle of Siverskyi Donets on the Lyman-Sievierodonetsk front. Bilohorivka was one of the villages where Russian forces tried unsuccessfully to cross the river, becoming a hot spot of fighting in early May 2022. On 7 May 2022, a school in Bilohorivka was bombed by Russian forces. The death of at least two people was confirmed, while authorities said the actual death toll was close to 60. About ninety people were sheltering inside the building's basement at the time, which President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said was the majority of the village's population. The building was hit by a Russian airstrike, setting it on fire and trapping large numbers of people inside.

With the fall of Lysychansk and its western outskirts, Russia and the Luhansk People's Republic declared full control of Luhansk Oblast for the first time, achieving an objective of the Russian-led campaign. Bilohorivka became one of the last settlements in the Luhansk region to come under Russian control. However, during the 2022 Kharkiv counteroffensive, on September 19, Russian troops were forced to leave Bilohorivka, beginning heavy fighting for the village again.

Battle

On 20 September 2022, Luhansk Oblast governor Serhiy Haidai reported that Russian troops had "razed [Bilohorivka] to the ground" during their failed attempts to recapture it, stating that Ukrainian forces had full control of the town. On October 18, Russia attempted an assault with artillery support on Bilohorivka, Stelmakhivka, Hrekivka, Nadia and Novoiehorivka, but the attack was repulsed. Russian troops continued to shell liberated settlements. According to Serhiy Haidai, on October 18, Ukrainian forces repelled several Russian attacks, including one near recently liberated Bilohorivka. Both Russian and Ukrainian media reported on November 9 that fighting continued in the town's neighborhoods and that fierce street fighting continued in the following weeks and months.

On November 16, the commander of BARS-13 (Russian Combat Reserve) stated that Ukrainian forces had launched a counteroffensive near the city of Kreminna and that counteroffensive operations had been extended 12 km south of Kreminna to Bilohorivka. This counteroffensive operation aimed for Ukrainian forces to regain lost territories in Luhansk south of the Donets. Powerful artillery attacks began with precision strikes from HIMARS multi-barrel rocket systems. Luhansk Oblast Governor Serhiy Haidai stated on 17 November that fierce fighting was taking place near Bilohorivka. On December 8, Haidai said Russia had deployed more troops near Lysychansk to capture Bilohorivka and described an intensified Russian air offensive.

After the fall of Soledar, Russian forces continued offensive operations at Bilohorivka on January 16. The Ukrainian General Staff reported that Ukrainian forces repulsed Russian attacks in the vicinity 24 km north of Soledar at Verkhniokamianske, Spirne, Krasnopolivka, Sil and Bilohorivka. Geolocated imagery showed that Russian forces made minor progress north of Bilohorivka. In early February 2023, Russian troops increased the number of attacks in the Bilohorivka and Kreminna areas, to identify weak points in the defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Ukrainian forces still maintained a presence in Bilohorivka by 7 February, despite repeated claims from Russian sources that Russia had captured the town. Russian forces made limited advances near Bilohorivka on 23 March, on 12 April, and on 22 May.

See also

• Battle of the Svatove–Kreminna line
• List of military engagements during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
• Timeline of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine: phase 4