[3] On 26 March, the Zaporizhzhia regional military administration claimed Ukrainian forces had recaptured the villages of Poltavka and Malynivka east of Huliaipole after heavy fighting.

[5] The provincial government of Zaporizhzhia later reported that Russian troops in the area were shooting their own cars, in order to not get sent to the front at Huliaipole, and that they were also complaining about the ineffectiveness that their attacks had on the Territorial Defense Forces.

[28] Following Russian missile attacks against Huliaipole on 12 July, the National Police of Ukraine reported that cluster bombs had exploded in nearby agricultural fields and burnt down over 600 hectares of grain.

[40] On the night of 28 August, a Russian Kh-22 missile reportedly struck a housing community in the regional capital of Zaporizhzhia, where a number of Huliaipole residents had been sheltering after fleeing their home city.

[43] Russian forces did not conduct active offensive operations against Huliaipole at the beginning of October 2022, but continued to shell the city,[44] inflicting fire damage,[45] using artillery, mortars and tanks.

[54] On 7 November, Oleksandr Starukh reported that Russian forces had fired S-300 missiles at a village near Huliaipole, damaging a cultural center and a farm warehouse, along with some homes.

[55] On 10 November, while the artillery shelling of Huliaipole continued, the Ukrainian General Staff reported that Russian forces were starting to fortify their positions in the occupied areas of the Zaporizhzhia region, using civilians to help with the construction.

[58] On 12 November, Ivan Fedorov reported that the 115th Separate Melitopol Battalion of the Territorial Defense Forces had destroyed 4 Russian armored personnel carriers near Huliaipole.

[63] The shelling of Ukrainian military positions and civilian infrastructure in Huliaipole continued over the subsequent days,[64][65] as the Russian armed forces started to conduct active defensive operations in the area.

[85][86] On 14 March 2023, Huliaipole's mayor Serhiy Yarmak reported that shelling had decreased over the preceding month and that there were still 3,000 residents remaining in the city, including 93 children.

According to Yarmak, the hospital continued to treat patients in its basement, local police patrolled the streets to prevent Ukrainian troops from buying alcohol and garbage collectors did their usual routes now in body armour and helmets.

He also reported that, over the previous month, Russian troops had looted homes in the occupied parts of the region and removed documents from the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

[94] On 9 June, combat operations in western and eastern Zaporizhzhia resulted in incremental gains by the Ukrainian forces, at the expense of some western-supplied tanks being destroyed.

The same day, the Russian-installed governor of Zaporizhzhia Oblast Yevgeny Balitsky announced the creation of a "people's militia" to police the occupied parts of the region.

[98] Nevertheless, Russian forces continued to deploy artillery against front line towns in Zaporizhzhia,[99] with Yuriy Malashko reporting a man had been injured in Huliaipole and 64 cases of property damage.

[100] Russian forces in Zaporizhzhia Oblast continued to focus on preventing the Ukrainian advance, conducting sustained artillery bombardment of front line towns.

[103] On 9 July, a Russian guided aerial bomb hit a school in Orikhiv while humanitarian aid was being distributed there, killing four people and leaving more trapped beneath the rubble of destroyed residential buildings.

[104] Russian forces continued to fire on the city as search and rescue operations were underway,[105] with the death toll rising to seven as people were found underneath the rubble.

[106] Shelling of front line towns in Zaporizhzhia, including Orikhiv, Huliaipole and Zaliznychne, continued as Russian forces attempted to prevent further Ukrainian advances.

[128] Russian attempts to halt the Ukrainian advance persisted into August 2023, with continued shelling of front line towns, including Huliaipole, Zaliznychne and Kamianske, among others.

[168] On 27 October, the United Nations reported that it had delivered a convoy of humanitarian aid to Huliaipole, supplying the city with medicine, hygienic products and shelter kits.

[183] As offensive actions slowed, the Centre for Eastern Studies reported that Huliaipole, along with Orikhiv, Polohy, Tokmak and Vasylivka, had experienced the most environmental degradation on the southern frontline through Zaporizhzhia Oblast.

[186][187] As Ukrainian forces repelled Russian attacks along the Zaporizhzhia front on 16 December, artillery and mortar shelling of Huliaipole continued,[188] damaging a residential building.

[194] On 23 December, Russian attempts to push Ukrainian forces out of their positions on the Zaporizhzhia front line were unsuccessful; shelling of Huliaipole with artillery and mortars continued,[195] followed by UAV strikes that damaged residential buildings and civilian infrastructure.

This prompted condemnation from Israeli politician Ze'ev Elkin, whose family is originally from the city,[209][210] as well as Ukraine's Chief Rabbi Moshe Reuven Azman.

[217] On 22 May, Ukrainian volunteers of the Unity of People organization announced that they had set up a shelter which they called an "invincibility point" in Huliaipole, providing food, electricity and hot water for the town's remaining residents.

[218] Facing artillery strikes every few hours, Huliaipole's residents have come to avoid the mostly-destroyed city centre, largely keeping to their basement shelters.

[219] Viktor Mirzenyi, a resident who fled the city after he was permanently disabled by a mortar strike on his home, says that he and his mother talk often of returning "but there is nothing there, no water, no electricity, nothing left.

[222] Al Jazeera journalist Alex Gatopoulos reported that the city's residents and its aid infrastructure were largely kept in basements: "life for the people who have remained [in Huliaipole] has moved underground.

The remaining social centre of Huliaipole is a crowded bomb shelter, where electricity is provided by a generator and residents store their basic necessities, known as the "Point of Invincibility".