Bilovodsk (Ukrainian: Біловодськ) is a rural settlementin the Starobilsk Raion of Luhansk Oblast in the east of Ukraine on the banks of the Derkul river.

[2][3] Chalk deposits in the springs that flow into the river give it a white color, which is where the name of the town, Bilovodsk, lit.

However, due to the fact that the settlement was founded without the Tsar's permission and the residents took part in the Bulavin Rebellion, the government of the Tsardom of Russia sent a punitive expedition that burned down the village by royal decree in 1708.

[2] Eventually, the town was captured and the war was won by the Bolsheviks, who established the Soviet Union on much of the territory of the former Russian Empire.

[12] The Institute for the Study of War has described Bilovodsk, alongside Svatove and Starobilsk, as one of the few strategically important areas in northeastern Ukraine.

Starobilsk sits on a major road junction, which determines which bases Russia can use in Russian territory to support attacks in Ukraine.

[17] On January 1, 2023, the Ukrainian military claimed that 350 Russian servicemen were being treated in the Bilovodsk city hospital, a significant increase from the December 29 numbers.

[19] In October 2023, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine announced that Russia was forcibly resettling people from Bilovodsk to Luhansk.