Battle of Pisky

Battle of Pisky (2022)
Part of the Eastern Ukraine offensive of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
Date 28 July 2022 – before 24 August 2022 (less than 3 weeks and 6 days) Russian claim: 28 July 2022 – 13 August 2022 Location Pisky, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine Result Russian & DNR victory Territorial changes Russian and DNR forces gain full control of Pisky
Belligerents
Russia Donetsk PR	Ukraine
Commanders and leaders
Alexei Berngard Artem Zhoga	Unknown
Units involved
DPR Armed Forces Sparta Battalion 100th Brigade 3rd Regiment	Armed Forces of Ukraine 15th Mountain Assault Brigade 503rd Naval Infantry Battalion National Guard of Ukraine Azov Battalion Donbas Battalion Georgian Legion Ukrainian Marines 56th Motorized Brigade
Casualties and losses
Unknown	Unknown

The battle of Pisky was a series of military engagements for control of the village of Pisky between the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation during the battle for Donbas in 2022.

Background

Main articles: Eastern Ukraine offensive, Battle of Avdiivka (2022), Battle of Donbas (2022), and Siege of Marinka

See also: War in Donbas (2014–2022), March 2022 Donetsk attack, Maisky Market attack, and Olenivka prison massacre

Pisky is a frontline settlement in Donetsk that is considered a ghost town, having no significant population since 2014. Located mere yards from separatist territory, Ukraine's 56th Motorized Brigade spent years fortifying the village, with garrison personnel fighting from basements and trenches, and using highway overpasses as staging areas.

During the Eastern Ukraine offensive in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian and pro-separatist forces set their sights on seizing the Donbas region, consisting of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. Parts of these oblasts, including their capitals with the same names, were seized in pro-Russian uprisings in 2014. Before Russia officially launched its invasion of Ukraine, Avdiyivka was the first place where the conflict escalated, just 3km north of Pisky. On 13 March, Russian forces bombed the Avdiyevka coking plant. On 17 March, Russian and separatist forces launched an offensive on Marinka, located a few kilometers south of Pisky. Marinka is a strong defense fortification of the Ukrainian forces on the dividing line between Ukraine and the Russian separatist states DPR and LNR.

On the night of 18 April, Russian forces launched an intensive bombing campaign against positions in Luhansk, Donetsk, and Kharkiv Oblasts, beginning the battle of Donbas. On 13 June, Ukrainian forces launched an artillery attack that reportedly hit a market in Donetsk, the capital of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, killing five people. The DPR accused Ukraine of carrying out shelling attacks from the areas of Pisky and Krasnogorovka. On the night of 28-29 July, a prison was destroyed in Molodizhne near the village of Olenivka, a settlement southwest of Donetsk controlled by the Russian-backed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR). The Russians accused the Ukrainians of having launched an attack with American HIMARS missile systems from the area of ​​Pisky, Marinka and Vuhledar, and on the same day it was decided to launch a general offensive in the direction of those three places.

Battle

On 28 July, DPR and Russian forces launched a claimed offensive to surround Avdiivka. Russian and separatist forces assaulted the towns of Krasnohorivka, Pisky, and other towns north of Avdiivka, with unspecified gains. On 31 July, the Ukrainian General Staff reported that Russian forces attempted advances around Kamyanka and Pisky and that unspecified separate Russian units had ”partial success” around Avdiivka. Donetsk People‘s Republic (DPR) Deputy Information Minister Daniil Bezsonov claimed that Russian and DPR forces secured positions on the southeastern outskirts of Pisky, which is consistent with Ukrainian reports. The Head of the Avdiivka City Military Administration Vitalii Barabash said that only 10% of the pre-war population of Avdiivka remained or about 2,500 people.

Ukraine said on 5 August that it lost the Butivka coal mine to Russia and claimed it was pushed to the outskirts of Avdiivka. The DPR claimed its forces and Russia took Pisky, with Ukraine rejecting the claim. On 7 August, combat footage showed that Russian forces had reached the centre of Pisky. By 12 August, the ISW reported that based on combat footage and satellite imagery, much of Pisky had been leveled by Russian artillery, which reportedly included TOS-1A thermobaric artillery systems.

Russian and pro-Russian forces reportedly used the attritional tactic of battering Ukrainian defenses with heavy artillery bombardment and following up with infantry assaults, making the defense for the fortified settlement "costly," as the defenders reportedly lacked counter-battery fire capabilities. One soldier from Ukraine's 56th Motorized Brigade wrote, "The battalion simply holds back the onslaught with their bodies," adding that "without a counterbattery fight, it turns into a senseless meatgrinder, where an insane amount of our infantry is ground up in a day."

Fall of Pisky

The Russian defence ministry claimed to have fully captured Pisky on 13 August, however, Ukraine's Eastern Command denied the Russian claim and said clashes for control of the village were ongoing. The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) assessed that Russian and DPR forces may not have fully captured and cleared Pisky by this date, but they had begun consolidating positions in the area to launch further attacks westward, towards Pervomaiske, Nevelske, and Optyne.

On 21 August, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov claimed that Russian forces had consolidated control of Pisky and that mine clearing operations were underway. Geolocated footage posted online on 24 August showed DPR troops troops hoisting a Soviet Victory Banner near the center of Pisky, seemingly unconcerned with Ukrainian artillery fire. The ISW interpreted this as apparent confirmation that DPR troops had gained full control of Pisky by this date.