section_path: Events/Southeastern front (8 April – 5 September 2022)/Fall of Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk
section_name: Fall of Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk
paragraph_text: Fall of Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk
  
  A Russian missile attack on Kramatorsk railway station in Kramatorsk took place on 8 April, killing at least 61 and injuring 87 to 300. On 11 April, Zelenskyy said Ukraine expected a new Russian offensive in the east. American officials said Russia had withdrawn or been repulsed elsewhere, and therefore was preparing a retraction, resupply, and redeployment to the southeastern Ukraine front. Military satellites photographed Russian convoys of infantry and mechanised units deploying south from Kharkiv to Izium on 11 April, apparently part of the planned Russian redeployment.
  
  On 18 April, with Mariupol overtaken by Russian forces, the Ukrainian government announced that the second phase of the reinforced invasion of the Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv oblasts had intensified with expanded invasion forces occupying of the Donbas. On 22 May, the BBC reported that after the fall of Mariupol, Russia had intensified offensives in Luhansk and Donetsk while concentrating missile attacks and intense artillery fire on Sievierodonetsk, the largest city under Ukrainian control in Luhansk Oblast. On 23 May, Russian forces were reported entering Lyman, capturing the city by 26 May. Ukrainian forces were reported leaving Sviatohirsk. By 24 May, Russian forces captured the city of Svitlodarsk. On 30 May, Reuters reported that Russian troops had breached the outskirts of Sievierodonetsk. By 2 June, The Washington Post reported that Sievierodonetsk was on the brink of capitulation to Russian occupation with over 80% in the hands of Russian troops. On 3 June, Ukrainian forces reportedly began a counter-attack in Sievierodonetsk. By 4 June, Ukrainian government sources claimed 20% or more of the city had been recaptured.
  
  Ukrainian authorities estimated that 800 Ukrainian civilians were besieged at the Azot chemical factory in Sievierodonetsk; Russian-backed separatists said it sheltered 300–400 soldiers. With the Ukrainian defences of Sievierodonetsk faltering, Russian troops began intensifying their attack upon the neighbouring city of Lysychansk as their next target. On 20 June it was reported that Russian troops continued to tighten their grip on Sievierodonetsk by capturing surrounding villages.
  
  On 24 June, CNN reported that, amid scorched-earth tactics by advancing Russian troops, Ukraine's armed forces were ordered to evacuate Sievierodonetsk; several hundred civilians taking refuge in the Azot chemical plant were left behind, with some comparing their plight to those at the Azovstal steel works in Mariupol in May. On 3 July, the Russian defence ministry claimed Lysychansk had been captured and occupied by Russian forces. On 4 July, The Guardian reported that after the fall of the Luhansk oblast, Russian troops would continue their invasion into the adjacent Donetsk Oblast to attack the cities of Sloviansk and Bakhmut.