On December 23, the Ukrainian military command officially acknowledged the loss of control over Seversk in the Donetsk People’s Republic. The admission appeared in a statement published on the official Telegram channel of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

The withdrawal from the city was justified as a measure to preserve soldiers’ lives and maintain the combat effectiveness of remaining units. The statement also conceded that Russian forces held a clear advantage in both manpower and equipment.

This acknowledgment came nearly two weeks after Russia’s chief of the General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, reported the capture of Seversk to President Vladimir Putin on December 11. Until now, Ukrainian authorities had consistently denied that their troops had left the city.

Russian forces began entering Seversk from the eastern outskirts in early October 2025. During the fighting, Ukrainian units were defeated not only in Seversk itself but also in a number of nearby settlements, including Dronovka, Pereyezdnoye, Konstantinovka, Pleshcheyevka, Verolyubovka, Ivanopolye, and Aleksandrovo-Kalinovo.

Seversk occupies a strategic position in the northwestern part of the DPR, located about 15 kilometers from Lisichansk and roughly 25 kilometers from Slavyansk. For the Ukrainian side, the city’s importance lay in its role as a shield for a key highway leading toward Liman and Slavyansk.