[27][28] On 24 June 2022, Ukrainian units were ordered to retreat from the city[29] and the next day Russian and pro-Russian separatist forces fully captured Sievierodonetsk.

[36][37] The twin cities of Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk were the site of a series of battles in 2014 between pro-Russian separatists and the Ukrainian military during the war in Donbas.

[42] A month into its invasion, Russia claimed to control 93% of Luhansk Oblast,[43] leaving Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk as strategically important Ukrainian holdouts in the area.

[44] By 6 April, Russian forces had reportedly captured 60% of Rubizhne,[45] and shells and rockets were landing in Sievierodonetsk on "regular, sustained intervals".

[52] In late April, Russian forces launched an all-out offensive along a 500-mile (800 km) front to fully capture remaining unoccupied territory of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts.

Heavy combat continued in Rubizhne, Voevodivka, and Bilohorivka, as Russian forces attempted to further encircle Sievierodonetsk from the western axis.

[57][58] According to Ukrainian regional police chief Oleh Hryhorov, Sievierodonetsk and its direct neighbor, Lysychansk, had become tactically encircled, as Russian artillery could freely strike the remaining open roads into the city.

Meanwhile, other Russian and separatist forces continued their attempts to form a pocket in the urban areas, attacking from the north near Rubizhne and southwest at Ustynivka and Borivske.

Further to the west, Russia continued to slowly advance in a number of areas such as Lyman and Siversk to disrupt the Ukrainian supply lines to Sievierodonetsk-Lysychansk.

The ISW observed that both Russia and Ukraine were suffering heavy losses, but insisted that personnel of the pro-Russian contingents were more difficult to replace.

[73] On 1 June, according to Ukraine, the Azot chemical plant was hit by Russian bombardment, and a nitric acid tank blew up, forcing people to stay indoors.

[74] On the following day, it was stated that around 800 civilians were hiding in bomb shelters beneath the Azot factory, which had also become a bastion of defence for some Ukrainian troops.

[90] The commander of the Ukrainian National Guard's Svoboda Battalion, Petro Kuzyk, described the street fighting as fierce and "horrifying".

[100] Svoboda Battalion commander Petro Kuzyk said the Ukrainians were deliberately drawing Russian infantry into urban warfare conditions as a tactic to negate artillery fire.

[113] Meanwhile, the ISW assessed that the battle had tied down Russian forces which could have been used elsewhere in the war, stating that Russia had "concentrated the vast majority of its available combat power to capture Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk at the expense of other axes of advance and is suffering heavy casualties to do so.

"[117] The Ukrainian general staff said that "as a result of artillery fire and an assault" Russian forces had partial success in the village of Metiolkine and were "trying to gain a foothold."

The decision to hold onto Sievierodonetsk and continue fighting for the city was acknowledged by Ukrainian commanders as being risky, due to the risk of Russian encirclement.

[124][125] On 24 June, Governor Haidai announced that Ukrainian forces were ordered to withdraw from the city, stating: "Remaining in positions that have been relentlessly shelled for months just doesn't make sense.

"[126] CNN reported that amid continuing scorched earth tactics being applied by advancing Russian troops, Ukraine's armed forces were ordered to evacuate the city, leaving several hundred civilians seeking refuge in the Azot chemical plant, which was compared to the civilian refugees left at the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol a month prior in May.

[127] Concurrently, Russian sources stated that Ukrainian forces had suffered over 1,000 casualties, including 800 prisoners, in Hirske, Zolote, and near Lysychansk over the previous two days.

[136] In late June-early July, the Associated Press interviewed Ukrainian soldiers that retreated from Sievierodonetsk, some of whom called the battle "hell on Earth" and described the city as a "burnt-down desert."

The second-in-command of the Ukraine National Guard's Svoboda Battalion, Lt. Volodymyr Nazarenko, said Russian tanks would destroy any potential defensive position during street engagements and that the city was "methodically leveled out" by daily shelling.

Another soldier from the battalion remarked "those were not human conditions" they fought in, while also commending his comrades that held out before being ordered to withdraw, saying "the inner strength of our boys allowed them to hold the city until the last moment.

"[137] On 8 July, two weeks after Sievierodonetsk was captured, Luhansk governor Serhiy Haidai warned that living conditions in the city continued to deteriorate and the city was "on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe" as critical infrastructure and utilities such as water, electricity, and the sewage system remained inoperable while un-recovered corpses decomposed in hot apartment buildings.

[146] On 8 July, Ukraine's governor of Luhansk province, Serhiy Haidai, claimed that hundreds of Kadyrovites died during the battle for Sievierodonetsk, but did not provide an exact number.

[147] The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) assessed on 28 May that the Russian military was directing a large part of its combat-effective forces into the battle for Sievierodonetsk, weakening other front lines and risking exhausting its "remaining" troops.

Reportedly, following an advance on 5 June that recaptured approximately half of the city, Ukrainian forces pulled back after a Russian bombardment the next day.

[151] On 6 June, Frederick Kagan said that Russian forces were "crawling forward using massive artillery barrages to obliterate everything in its path," allowing Russia's "demoralized and frightened" soldiers to advance.

[152] The Ukrainian chief of staff, Valeriy Zaluzhny wrote on 12 June: "[The Russians] use artillery en masse and, unfortunately, they have a tenfold fire advantage.

"[153] On 17 June, Petro Kuzyk, commander of the Ukrainian Svoboda Battalion which partook in the battle, gave his analysis of the ongoing fighting in the city.