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Dovhenke is a village on the border between Kharkiv and Donetsk Oblasts. On 24 February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine, in a steep escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which had begun in 2014. The invasion caused Europe's fastest-growing refugee crisis since World War II, with more than 6.5 million Ukrainians fleeing the country and a third of the population displaced. On 1 April, the Ukrainian military confirmed Izium was under Russian control. The following day, in an interview for Ukrinform, Izium's Deputy Mayor Volodymyr Matsokin claimed that 80% of the city's residential buildings had been destroyed and that there was no power, heating, or water in the city.
Russian forces captured Izium, a strategic city railway intersection in eastern Kharkiv Oblast. The following day in an interview for Ukrinform, Izium's Deputy Mayor Volodymyr Matsokin claimed that 80% of the city's residential buildings had been destroyed and that there was no power, heating, or water in the city due to the recent battle. Days later, during the Battle of Donbas which both Russia and Ukraine shifted their resources towards, Kreminna became the first city to fall to the Russians and separatists on 18 April. The Governor of Luhansk Oblast, Serhiy Haidai, reported that 200 civilians were killed, although casualty numbers could be much higher than reported. Ukrainian officials reported on 25 April that Russian forces were killed in a gas explosion in the Russian-occupied Kreminna City Hall. On 27 May and 8 June respectively, the last Ukrainian-controlled cities north of the Donets river, Lyman and Sviatohirsk, fell to Russian and separatist forces. After gaining control of these cities, the battlefield shifted to the forests and villages between Izium and Sloviansk, which includes the villages of Dovhenke, Bohorodychne, and Krasnopillia [ru; uk].
Bohorodychne and Krasnopillia are strategic due to their location south of the Donets river. Since late May, Russian forces had been able to capture all Ukrainian-held towns north of the river, although their attempts to bridge across it were foiled by Ukrainian forces. By capturing Bohorodychne and Krasnopillia, Russian and separatist forces would be able to push southwards to Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, two of the last major Ukrainian-held cities in Donetsk Oblast and a major focus in the battle of Donbas. Sloviansk Mayor Vadim Liak made calls on 6 July for residents to evacuate due to recent increases in shelling in civilian areas and the possibility of fighting occurring in the city.
