[4] The Russian military wanted to capture Izium so its forces in Kharkiv Oblast could link up with their troops in the Donbas region.

[citation needed] By 6 March, the Russian military was in control of Izium's railway station [uk] and two of the city's neighborhoods, Honcharivka and Pisky.

[12] On 11 March, fierce fighting took place in Izium, with Russian forces assaulting the southern part of the city, according to a local official.

According to pro-Russian Telegram channels, fighting continued in the southern part of Izium, and Russian forces had managed to cross the Siverskyi Donets using pontoon bridges.

[20] According to Austrian military expert Tom Cooper, Ukrainian forces retook the southern side of Izium between 15-16 March.

[21] On 17 March, a local official said that Russian forces had crossed the Siverskyi Donets river near the highway to Barvinkove, but had been "completely destroyed" near the Izium fish farm.

[29] On 24 March, the Russian military announced that it had taken full control of Izium,[30][31] which was denied by Ukraine which stated that fighting was still ongoing.

[32][33] According to a local official, Russian forces were holding the northern part of the city, while Ukrainian soldiers were in the south, with the Donets river separating them.

[36] However, the ISW cited the Ukrainian military that the Russian troops were repelled at the village of Kamyanka, just south of Izium.

The ISW further stated that Russian forces were going to continue with their attempts to encircle the city, after failing to capture it in a direct assault.

[57][58] By 4 June, the Ukrainians claimed to have largely destroyed the 35th Combined Arms Army in heavy fighting south of Izium.

[59][60] According to independent Russian sources, the entirety of the army had not yet been transferred from its headquarters in the Far East, and it represented an incomplete corps with just two full motorised brigades forming the main strike force.

[62] In July, several calls were intercepted by the Ukrainians between several Russian soldiers near Izium and their family members, to whom they described the combat conditions.

[63][64][65] On 12 August, citing a report from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the Institute for the Study of War concluded that the 64th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade had likely been destroyed as "part of an intentional Kremlin effort to conceal war crimes it committed in Kyiv Oblast."

The report went further stating that of the 1,500 members of the brigade, losses were placed at 200-300 likely killed during fighting at Izium and Sloviansk, and that the unit "largely ceased to exist.

[69] In late November 2022, a phone call from a Russian soldier in the 27th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade discussing killing of Izium's citizens during the September retreat was leaked.