The Battle of Avdiivka was a battle of the Donbas War and the first battle of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. On 20 February 2022, pro-Russian separatists attacked the Ukrainian armed forces in the frontline Donbas town of Avdiivka, but the DPR forces were repelled. On 21 February, Russian Army soldiers joined the fighting, and, on 24 February, the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine began, and the Russians attacked in full force. On 13 March 2022, the Russian Air Force bombed the town's coke plant, and, on 25 March, Azov Battalion commander Artyom Murakhovsky was killed in action in Avdiivka. From April to July 2022, the fighting escalated as Russia launched a major offensive in the Donbas, heavily shelling the town, including with white phosphorus. Ukrainian artillery repelled DPR attacks on the town, but the Russians captured nearby Pisky on 24 August, while the Sparta Battalion and Somalia Battalion pressed the attack and threatened the Ukrainians with encirclement. On 10 October 2023, Russian forces assaulted the north, west, and south of Avdiivka with armored assault groups and helicopters, and almost all of the units involved were members of the Donetsk people's militias. Over the course of two days, the Russians suffered heavy losses, losing an entire armored vehicle battalion tactical group. The Russians continued to press their attacks over the next few months, using Storm-Z penal units and launching a "creeping offensive" amid poor weather conditions; their heavy vehicle losses forced them to conduct infantry-led assaults and tunnel warfare. On 23 November, a third wave of Russian assaults took place, and the Ukrainiasn repelled several Russian mechanized assault columns over the next two days, while losing control of the Promka industrial zone by 4 December.
On 20 January 2024, Russian forces broke through Ukrainian defenses in southern Avdiivka after making use of tunneling tactics, and Ukrainian counterattacks near the fortified Tsarska Okhota restaurant on 25 January met with marginal success. By February, the Russians achieved a second breakthrough in northern Avdiivka, and fighting spilled over into the city center in February. The Russians heavily leveraged tactical air power, as the ground was too soft for tanks and armored vehicles. The Ukrainian military deployed reserve units like the 3rd Assault Brigade to Avdiivka, but the Russians entrenched themselves west of the railway line and deployed more armored vehicles and Storm-Z penal units. From 15 to 17 February, the Ukrainian military began a withdrawal from Avdiivka amid fierce battles, completing the evacuation to more favorable lines early on 17 February.