Estonian Campaign (Ukraine War)

The Estonian campaign was the 2014 invasion of Estonia by Russian and Belarusian forces. When taking into account its short time frame, it was the deadliest engagement yet in World War III, leaving around 10,000 people killed in just 9 days. It was also the first major anti-coalition victory, as well as the first large scale ground engagement in the war.

Lead up to the invasion
In early June 2014, thousands of Russian troops began amassing around its border with Latvia and Estonia. This left coalition leaders wondering if an invasion of either country was imminent. By 18 June, it was reported that around 250,000 Russian troops were on the border with Estonia in preparation for a command to invade. Coalition forces quickly mobilized tens of thousands of ground forces of their own and deployed them to Estonia and Latvia. The United States and the United Kingdom deployed a total of around 210,000 ground troops to Estonia while Germany deployed around 80,000 troops to Latvia. On 21 June, American soldiers began firing artillery shells at nearby Russian military equipment. Upon hearing this, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that there would be a "large scale response".

Invasion
On 23 June, Russian ground forces entered Estonia. These forces were also accompanied by Belarusian ground forces. A large coalition response was underway as member nations stepped up airstrikes on Russian military targets. Coalition ground forces also actively resisted Russian and Belarusian forces, leading to heavy casualties on both sides. On the first day of the offensive, anti-coalition ground forces in the North had advanced as far as the city of Rakvere. As more coalition forces were mobilized, the advances were slowed down. Despite this, anti-coalition forces were able to take control of the town of Tapa on 26 June.

Coalition counter-offensive (27 June - 30 June)
Anti-coalition forces, suffering from lack of equipment due to coalition airstrikes, suffered losses on the ground over the next few days. Tapa was retaken by US-led forces on 27 June and coalition forces further south pushed anti-coalition forces back to the Russian border on 29 June. Seeing these losses, more equipment was shipped to anti-coalition forces and China authorized airstrikes against coalition forces in Estonia.

Return to offensive and fall of Tallin (30 June - 2 July)
After receiving more support, anti-coalition forces returned to the offensive on 30 June. At this time, Russia and Belarus focused most of their resources on the Northern front in attempt to take the Estonian capital, Tallin. Anti-coalition forces reached the city on 1 July and due to overwhelming force, the Estonian government surrendered on 2 July. Brief fighting between both sides continued that day, but coalition forces ultimately withdrew.