[27] The first main Russian effort to capture the city took place in the early months of 2023, following an advance through the surrounding area of Vuhledar the preceding year.

This assault in and around the city ended in a failure, with large-scale losses, and the dismissal of commander Rustam Muradov, who led the attack.

[29] On 6 April, Russian forces shelled a humanitarian aid distribution center in Vuhledar, killing four people and injuring an additional four.

[33] On 21 June, Ukraine's 53rd Brigade recaptured Pavlivka, south of Vuhledar, claiming to have only lost one soldier killed and three wounded during the operation to retake the village.

[39] Out of 60 men in a platoon from the Russian 155th Naval Infantry Brigade, about 40 were killed and only eight escaped serious injury assaulting the town during late October.

Daniil Beznosov, a DPR official, claimed on 1 November that ongoing offensives near Pavlivka and Novomykhailivka were likely intended to encircle Ukrainian forces in Vuhledar.

[43] Members of the 155th Brigade published a letter criticizing commander Rustam Muradov and calling the offensive on Pavlivka "incomprehensible".

[45] According to Nazarii Kishak, a commander in Ukraine's 72nd Brigade on the frontline in Vuhledar, his unit, the 48th Battalion, managed to kill 11 Russians on 26 December, compared with 400 within four days the previous month.

On 25 January, war correspondent Andriy Rudenko stated that Ukrainian troops had lost the first line of defence near the town and withdrawn to the city.

[50] DNR spokesman Daniil Bezsonov claimed that the DPR's Kaskad Battalion had participated in an advance, along with members of the Russian 155th Naval Infantry Brigade.

[50][failed verification] Localized offensives took place by Russian forces on 25 January, although British intelligence assessed it was unlikely that these assaults were able to hold any ground.

[51][52] The spokesman for the Ukrainian Eastern Command, Serhii Cherevatyi, claimed Russian troops fired at Vuhledar 322 times on 26 January, with 58 localized battles taking place.

[57] In the following days, Russian forces suffered heavy casualties during the battle, with the 155th Naval Infantry Brigade taking the brunt of the losses.

[59] According to Austrian-based analyst Tom Cooper from 2 February, the 155th Marine Brigade may have lost 200-230 men killed in action over the first three days of the operation, with the Ukrainians claiming to have shot down 5-6 Ka-52 helicopters between 24 and 28 January.

[62] These heavy losses saw the main fighting units in Vuhledar become the 72nd Motor Rifle Brigade, composed predominantly of Tatars.

[64] The Ukrainian military announced almost the entire Russian 155th Naval Infantry Brigade was destroyed and that Russia lost 130 units of equipment, including 36 tanks.

[65][18] General Rustam Muradov, commander of the Eastern Military District and of the Vuhledar offensive came under fire for the failure to achieve the objective.

[7] The American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) assessed that between 15 and 23 February, Russian forces continued to launch assaults on Vuhledar, although with no significant territorial changes.

[27] In March 2023, British intelligence claimed Russian military leadership had not abandoned the prospect of capturing Vuhledar, and that a second large offensive was plausible.

[81] On 28 June 2024, Ukrainian forces destroyed a Russian column in Vuhledar, which had attacked and failed to cut off the defending 72nd Mechanized Brigade.

The brigade claimed to have knocked out 16 T-80 tanks, 34 fighting vehicles and 19 motorcycles, and to have killed or badly wounded over 800 Russian troops in the assault.

[91] The deputy commander of the 72nd Mechanized Brigade complained to war correspondents that his troops lacked air defences and were "exhausted" because they had had zero rotations since February 2022.

[99] On 1 October, the head of the Donetsk Oblast Military Administration, Vadym Filashkin, reported that Russian troops were fighting in the city center.

In February 2023, Deputy Mayor Verbovsky stated that Vuhledar "was destroyed", with "one hundred percent of the buildings damaged;"[63] fewer than 500 civilians, and only one child, remained in the town once populated with 15,000 residents.

[110][111] The town no longer had running water or electricity because of the damage inflicted on it, with civilians being forced to collect rainwater to drink in February.

[115] Following this, Russian war correspondents claimed that he had been replaced as acting commander of the Eastern Military District by Lieutenant General Andrey Kuzmenko, despite officially remaining at its head.

[27] Military experts told the Wall Street Journal that the heavy Russian losses indicated that the soldiers likely lacked autonomy to adapt to events on the battlefield, possibly combined with poor training of recently mobilized troops.