Siversk (Ukrainian: Сіверськ, IPA: [ˈs⁽ʲ⁾i.wersʲk]; Russian: Северск, romanized: Seversk), formerly known as Yama (Яма) until 1973, is a city in Bakhmut Raion, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine.

[1] During the Russo-Ukrainian War, it has been a site of repeated fighting, accelerating the economic and demographic downturn the city has suffered since the 1990s.

Siversk is located in the historical, cultural, and economic Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.

[4] Siversk lies at the bottom of a lowland, in a river valley, surrounded on all sides by smaller settlements.

[5][6] Archeologists have discovered human settlements on the territory of modern Siversk dating back to the Stone Age.

At different times throughout history, the area has been inhabited by Sarmatians, Goths, Huns, Avars, Alans, Bulgarians, Slavs, Khazars and Cumans.

The area saw fighting during the Russian Civil War before eventually being captured by the Bolsheviks, who incorporated it into the Soviet Union.

[6] In the wake of the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Siversk experienced the economic decline that affected many countries of the former USSR.

[6] During the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine that began in 2022, Siversk became a frontline city in the fighting again.

[12] Siversk itself fell into humanitarian crisis, with running water and electricity services being shut down and most buildings damaged.

[13] After Ukraine's 2022 Kharkiv counteroffensive, a United States military official said on 12 September that Russia was moving its focus from Siversk to its attacks on Bakhmut.

[14] On 28 June 2023, Siversk officially launched a sister city program with Weston, Connecticut.

The town is home to various smaller ethnic minorities, such as Belarusians, which account for roughly 1% of the population, as well as Greeks, Georgians and Azerbaijanis.

[5] After the destructive battle of Siversk in 2022, there were large-scale evacuations, and only about 1,000 people remain in the city as of July 2023.