[6][7][8] The battle for the city began on 16 October 2024, when Russian forces' offensive operation in the direction of Kurakhove succeeded in capturing the nearby settlement of Ostrivske on 15 October, thus beginning the battle as Russian forces entered the administrative limits of the city from the north-eastern direction on the eastern bank of the Kurakhove reservoir.

[10][11] Russian forces captured the city's administrative boundaries in late December, and reportedly took control over the Kurakhove Power Station in early January 2025.

The logistics have been heavily affected, with supply routes slowed and evacuation of the wounded becoming more challenging due to cut roads to Pokrovsk.

[19][20] This capture was followed by an assault on the neighboring town of Kurakhivka to the south and a push west of Hirnyk where Russian forces advanced into the village of Novoselydivka.

[22] At the same time further south Russian forces started a three speared attack from Vuhledar northwards seizing the villages of Bohoyavlenka and Novoukrainka by 30 October.

[26] In early November, an estimated 700–1,000 people remained in Kurakhove, and were living without basic utilities, while Russian forces stood under 3 kilometres from the city center.

[30] On 14 November, Ukrainian military observer Kostyantyn Mashovets claimed that Russia had concentrated 70,000 personnel against Kurakhove, including units from the 41st and 51st Combined Arms armies.

[32] On 29 November, Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi announced that troop contingents in the Pokrovsk and Kurakhove sectors would get additional reserves, ammunition, weapons, military equipment,[33] calling it the most intense area of fighting on the front.

[34] A few days later, Zelensky affirmed this, stating that the Donetsk direction requires significant reinforcements – appealing to Western partners to timely fulfill weapon delivery commitments.

The distance between Russian forward positions to the north and south of Kurakhove had narrowed to less than 10 kilometers, further reducing the gap needed to close the encirclement around the town.

The villages of Yelyzavetivka, Romanivka, Veselyi Hai and Hannivka were located within a pocket – the sole supply line being fiercely embattled, guarded only by Ukrainian contingents in the partially controlled settlements of Trudove and Uspenivka.

DeepStateMap.Live cited inaction and unclear actions by the Donetsk Operational Tactical Group, a lack of proper coordination, as well as a significant advantage of manpower on the Russian side, as reasons for the situation.

Matveev questioned risking another potential encirclement at Kurakhove proper, as Ukrainian soldiers there are also "only one step away from being surrounded", though they did hold the industrial area and western limits of the city.

According to the ISW, the closure of the pocket granted Russian forces the ability to begin assaults towards Dachne, west of Kurakhove, and Zelenivka [uk], near Uspenivka.