Battle of Kharkiv
Kharkiv Battle (2022)
See Kharkiv Battle for other battles.
Kharkiv Battle (2022)
The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine's northeastern and eastern offensives.
2022 Kharkiv Battle.png
February–May 2022 (2 months, 2 weeks and 6 days)
[1]
Kharkiv, Kharkiv Oblast Ukrainian win
[2]
Russians Ukraine 1st Guards Tank Army [3] 20th Guards [4] 6th 92nd Mechanized Brigade 200th Brigade [6] 22nd Motorized Infantry Battalion[7] 93rd Mechanized Brigade Kraken Regiment
UAF National Guard
[9]
UkrSecurity
[9]
Ukrainian Border Guard
[9]
TDF
[9]
Dudayev Battalion [10]
Battalion
[11]
Ukrainian irregulars
[12]
Damages
Ukraine: 2,435+ killed
[13]
[14]
Russia: 276+ killed
[16]
[17]
[18]
[19]
Ukraine: 606 civilians killed[20] 600,000+ evacuated
[21]
2022 Russia invades Ukraine
The northeastern Ukraine offensive and eastern Ukraine offensive during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine included the battle of Kharkiv from February to May 2022.
[22]
[23] Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city and a predominately Russian-speaking city, was a major target for the Russian military early in the invasion. [24] [25]
Ukrainian forces pushed Russian forces trying to encircle the city back toward the Russian border by 13 May.
[2] Russia also withdrew units. [26] Ukraine "likely won" Kharkiv, according to the Institute for the Study of War. [27] By 20 May, Russian forces shelled Kharkiv again. [28] The Kharkiv Oblast counteroffensive pushed back Russian forces near the city, reducing pressure on the city. [29]
Amnesty International reported on June 12 that Russia used banned cluster munitions like 9N210/9N235 cluster bombs and "scatterable" munitions that eject small mines that explode later.
[30] In September, four months after the battle, Ukraine launched a major counteroffensive to retake Russian-held Kharkiv Oblast. [31]
Contents
1 Battle
Start-up (24–28 February)
Fighting intensifies (1 March – 2 April)
1.3 (April)
Ukrainian counterattack (1–13 May)
1.5 Battles, September counteroffensive, and Russian retreat
2 Casualties
Civilians killed
Casualties
3.
4
5.
Operations begin (24–28 February)
On February 24, Belgorod-based Russian forces crossed the border and advanced toward Kharkiv, meeting Ukrainian resistance.
[25] At 4 a.m., 92nd Mechanized Brigade commander Pavlo Fedosenko heard explosions. [32] Russian artillery barrages killed a boy in the city. [33]
By 25 February, fierce fighting had erupted in the northern suburbs near Tsyrkuny, where Ukrainian forces held off Russian forces.
[34]
Kharkiv apartment block partially destroyed by missile, 26 February.
Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleh Synyehubov stated on February 26 that the city was under Ukrainian control.
[35] American officials reported Kharkiv's heaviest fighting. [36]
Russian forces destroyed a Kharkiv gas pipeline early on February 27.
[37][38] Later in the morning, Russian forces entered Kharkiv, with Synyehubov reporting heavy fighting in the city [39][40] and Ministry of Internal Affairs advisor Anton Herashchenko reporting street fighting in the city center.
[41][42] Fedosenko said, “Everyone was fighting for Kharkiv: both the military and civilians. Ukrainian Army, Territorial Defense, National Guard, police, and volunteers. Every street was beating the enemy.” [32] Russian forces tried to take the city from the west by breaking through on a road through the woods at Pisochyn, but Fedosenko was informed and ordered a counterattack, which stopped them. [32]
Ukrainian officials denied claims by Russian Ministry of Defence spokesman Igor Konashenkov that Russian forces had captured 471 Ukrainian soldiers and surrendered the 302nd Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment.
[43]
[44] Ukrainian officials said their forces destroyed half of Russian military vehicles that advanced into Kharkiv, including at least 6 GAZ Tigr-Ms. [45] [46]
Synyehubov reported that Ukrainian forces had retaken the city by 27 February afternoon.
[47]
[48][49] He added that dozens of Russian soldiers surrendered. [50] Fedosenko said the Ukrainians “drove the Russians out of the city, dug in and that's it.” [32]
On 28 February, Herashchenko claimed that Russian rocket strikes on the city had killed dozens of civilians,[51] Synyehubov reported eleven civilians killed and dozens wounded,[52][53] and Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov reported nine civilians killed and 37 wounded.
[54] Russian snipers killed a 25-year-old Algerian student. [55]
On 28 February, Terekhov reported that Russian forces were destroying electrical substations in Kharkiv, cutting power, heating, and water to some areas. Russian shelling damaged 87 homes, he added. [56] Russian shelling destroyed Malyshev Factory. [57][58]
Human Rights Watch reported on 28 February that Russian forces dropped cluster bombs in Industrialnyi, Saltivskyi, and Shevchenkivskyi. Cluster bombs "might constitute a war crime" because they endanger civilians, according to Human Rights Watch. [59]
Fighting escalated (1 March – 2 April)
The March 1 Kharkiv regional state administration shelling
A Russian 3M54-1 Kalibr missile detonated in Freedom Square in central Kharkiv on March 1.
[60]
[61]
Blast destroyed Slovene consulate.
Opera and concert halls were damaged.
[64] 24 injured. [65] The regional administration reported 29 deaths. [68]
Yevgeny Malyshev, a former Ukrainian national team biathlete, was one of the Ukrainian soldiers killed in Kharkiv on 1 March, according to the Biathlon Federation of Ukraine.
[69]
Kharkiv downtown after shelling.
Russian shelling killed a 21-year-old Indian student at Kharkiv National Medical University on March 1. The Karnataka student was from Chalageri. [70] The local Indian student coordinator said he was killed by an airstrike in the morning while waiting to buy groceries. [72] In a larger operation, Indian authorities evacuated all Indians from Kyiv. On March 1, half of the 8,000 Indian students in Ukraine were in Kharkiv and Sumy. [73] On March 1, shelling killed OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine member Mayna Fenina. [74]
Kharkiv National University School of Economics, 2 March
Krasnodarska shelling aftermath, 7 March
Synyehubov reported 21 deaths and 112 injuries on March 2.
[75] After an aerial assault on Kharkiv, Russian paratroopers raided a Ukrainian military hospital, sparking heavy fighting. A local official later said Ukrainian forces controlled the hospital. [76] [77]
Russian shelling in the morning damaged Kharkiv Police headquarters, a military academy, and the National University.
[78]
Russian missiles hit several residential areas.
[65] Russian missiles again hit Freedom Square, damaging the Kharkiv City Council building, Derzhprom, and some high-rises. [80]
Two missiles hit Kharkiv Territorial Defence Forces headquarters on March 2. The Catholic Church of St. Anthony and the civilian-sheltered Assumption Cathedral were damaged. [82][83] CNN reported that only three of 16 Kharkiv locations shelled by Russia that week were non-civilian. [84]
On 6 March, the Security Service of Ukraine warned that Russian BM-21 Grads were shelling the Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology, a nuclear research facility, which could cause a major ecological disaster.
[85] The International Atomic Energy Agency reported the next day that the nuclear research facility was damaged but had no radiation leak. [86] Local emergency officials reported at least eight civilian deaths from overnight shelling. [87] The Albanian consulate was demolished and the Azerbaijani consulate was severely damaged [88]. [89]
Rocket in apartment ceiling
Ukrainian forces killed 41st Combined Arms Army deputy commander Major General Vitaly Gerasimov on March 7.
[90] On May 23, Gerasimov received the Order of Alexander Nevsky, disproving this claim. [91] Attacks killed other Russian officers. [92] Russian soldiers killed two civilian volunteers feeding animals at Feldman Ecopark. [93] [94]
Synyehubov reported on 8 March that over 600,000 civilians had been evacuated by train.
[21] Ukrainian officials said they controlled all of Kharkiv and that Russian offensive action was limited to shelling on the city's outskirts. [95]
Russian shelling in Kharkiv killed four people, including two children, on March 10. Russian shelling destroyed a city center mall. [96] Herashchenko later claimed a Russian airstrike hit the Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology. [97]
Russian shelling killed two civilians and wounded one in a residential area on March 14.
[98] Synyehubov claimed the following day that Kharkiv had been shelled 65 times on 14 March, killing a civilian and destroying 600 residential buildings. [99]
Ukrainian officials said Russian forces shelled a market on 16 March, killing three civilians and wounding five.
[100]
Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor's Office reported shelling of Slobidskyi and Moskovskyi residential buildings on March 18. The National Academy for Public Administration Institute of State Administration building was also damaged. [101] Russian shelling of Saltivka killed 96-year-old Boris Romanchenko, who survived four Nazi concentration camps and worked to remember Nazi crimes. [102] [103]
Oleh Synyehubov, the appointed head of the Kharkiv Regional Civil-Military Administration (HOVA), stated on 19 March that the northern suburbs of Kharkiv had been bombarded and that shells and rockets were hitting the city center. He said many administrative and cultural buildings were destroyed. He also said Ukrainian forces had counterattacked, driving Russian forces from the city's outskirts. [104]
A Russian airstrike killed six civilians and injured 15 at a Nova Poshta office on March 24.
[105] Russian shells damaged Drobytsky Yar Holocaust memorial monuments on March 26. [106]
Mayor Ihor Terekhov reported on 28 March that 30% of Kharkiv's residents had left since the war.
[107] Russian cluster munitions hit city neighborhoods again, according to HOVA military governor Oleh Synyehubov. He said Ukrainian forces had counterattacked in several directions and cleared Mala Rohan and Vilkhivka. [108]
Saltivka after 31 March shelling.
On 31 March 2022, two Ukrainian Mi-24 military helicopters attacked an oil supply depot 25 miles (40 km) north of the border in Belgorod, Russia, amid increased Russian shelling of Kharkiv.
[109]
[110] On the same day, the Russians claimed to have killed over 100 Western "extremists and mercenaries" in Kharkiv with a high-precision Iskander missile strike on a defense base. [111] [unreliable?]
Russian bypass (April)
Synyehubov said the Russians bypassed Izyum on April 2 to reach Luhansk and Donetsk.
[112] The Ukrainian government reported on 3 April 2022 that Ukrainian civilians gave Russian soldiers of the 3rd Motor Rifle Division in Kharkiv poisoned cakes, killing two and hospitalizing 28. [113]
On 4 April, the Ukraine's defence ministry warned that the invaders were preparing to attack the city from the east despite limited Russian withdrawals to the north of the city and the Ukrainian forcing of the road to Chuhuiv.
[115][116]
The 14–17 April Russian shelling of Kharkiv killed 18 civilians and wounded 106.
[117]
Synyehubov claimed on Telegram on 17 April that a Ukrainian counteroffensive had retaken Bazaliyivka, Lebyazhe, and part of Kutuzivka and advanced to near Mala Rohan. He also claimed that Ukrainian forces had "jet-fired" five tanks and ten armored vehicles and killed or captured 100 Russian soldiers. [118]
Kharkiv was partially surrounded on April 27.
Synyehubov reported on 29 April that over 2,000 city buildings had been damaged or destroyed since the war began. Five civilians were killed on 28 April by almost non-stop shelling, he added. [120] Ukraine retook Ruska Lozova near Kharkiv on April 29. [121]
Ukrainian counterattack (1–13 May)
Ukrainian forces launched a counter-offensive in May 2022 to push Russian forces out of the city and toward the border. Russia withdrew from Kharkiv by 12 May, according to the UK Ministry of Defense. [26]
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported on 2 May that Ukraine retook Staryi Saltiv, 40 km east of the city.
[122]
On 6 May, the ISW reported a Ukrainian counteroffensive "along a broad arc" north and east of Kharkiv, recaptured "several villages," including Tsyrkuny, Peremoha, and part of Cherkaski Tyshky.
[123] The ISW predicted Ukraine "may successfully push Russian forces out of artillery range of Kharkiv in the coming days." [123] Ukrainian forces recaptured five villages northeast of Kharkiv on May 7. [124] The New York Times reported that Ukraine was winning the Kharkiv battle, citing a Ukrainian official. [125] The 92nd and 93rd Mechanized Brigades advanced north and east, forcing the Russians to retreat across the Donets River and blow the bridges behind them. [126]
Ukrainian forces claimed retaking four settlements on May 10. If successful, this counteroffensive could bring Ukrainian forces within several kilometres of the Russian border. [127]
"Ukraine likely won the battle of Kharkiv," the ISW said on 13 May.
[27] Kharkiv Mayor told BBC: "Five days without city shelling. Ukrainian Air Defence intercepted the only Russian missile rocket near Kharkiv airport." [128]
Combat, September counteroffensive, and Russian retreat
More: 2022 Ukrainian eastern counteroffensive
20 June rocket strike destroyed housing and communal college.
Russian forces were forced back to defensive positions, some within miles of the Russia-Ukraine border, after the Ukrainian counteroffensive. Despite this, they shelled Kharkiv and its suburbs, killing and wounding dozens of civilians.
Russian forces used BM-21 Grad, BM-27 Uragan, and BM-30 Smerch multiple rocket launchers to shell Kharkiv and several surrounding villages on May 20.
[28]
The Ukrainian police announced the discovery of six military officials, including a Russian colonel, in Zolochiv on May 21.
[129]
New rocket strikes destroyed Kharkiv National University of Urban Economy Housing and Communal College on June 20.
and Kharkiv Metro depot.
[131] Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute sports complex was destroyed on June 24. [132] [133]
The Russian defense ministry claimed an airstrike hit the Territorial Defence Forces' 127th Separate Brigade's forward position on July 3, neutralizing 100 Ukrainian troops and destroying "15 units of military equipment." This claim was unsubstantiated. [134]
New missiles destroyed a gymnasium on July 4.
[135] Russian shelling destroyed a Kharkiv National Pedagogical University building and an 1832 manor house and architectural monument on July 6. [136] [137]
Ukrainian special forces killed 36 Russian soldiers near Dementiivka on July 18 and captured their commander.
[138]
A morning Russian missile attack on Kharkiv killed at least three people, including a 13-year-old boy, on July 20.
[139]
Railroad workers' culture palace after 18 August Russian rocket strike
A missile strike on two dormitories killed 25 and injured several dozen on 17–18 August.
[141] New Russian strike destroyed railroad workers' culture palace on August 18. [142]
The city mourned the victims of the previous days on August 19.
[143] The same day, another rocket strike destroyed a Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute building, killing one person.
[144]
A missile hit Lokomotyv Sports Palace on September 2, 2022.
[145]
Ukraine launched a major counteroffensive on 6 September 2022. Ukrainian troops liberated Izyum, Balakliia, and others three days later. [146] The Ukrainians claimed to have killed 2,850 Russian soldiers and destroyed 590 military equipment, including 86 tanks, 158 armoured combat vehicles, 106 artillery systems, 159 vehicles, and 46 other systems, between 6-11 September. Oryx claims they captured 129 more military items. [147] [148]
After the battle, Kharkiv fields were littered with craters.
Kharkiv TEC-5 and Zmiiv thermal power station in Kharkiv region were shelled by the Russian army on September 11. The Ukrainian counteroffensive may have caused widespread power outages in five Ukrainian regions. [149] [150]
Casualties
Victims
Russian shelling and city fighting killed 606 civilians.
[151] Battle of Kharkiv casualties cannot be calculated due to war fog. Skirmishes in Kharkiv's suburbs have also killed Russian and Ukrainian soldiers.
Casualties
Military casualties, like civilian deaths, are impossible to estimate due to war fog and opposing governments inflating or deflating numbers to boost morale.
The Ukrainian government claimed 2,400 Russian troop deaths during the battle. Ukraine reported destroying a 120-man airborne unit on 3 March. [15] Ukraine reported killing 645 soldiers from a single unit on 26 March, leaving only three men, two of whom were wounded. [13] Ukraine claimed to have destroyed 2 battalion tactical groups from the 200th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade on 29 March, killing up to 1,500 soldiers. [14] On 30 May, the Ukrainians repatriated the bodies of 62 Russian servicemen in the Kharkiv Region. [152]
The Russian government, on the other hand, gave very sparse updates as to Ukrainian casualties but claimed to have killed up to 276 Ukrainian fighters by 2 April,[16][17] including 130 mercenaries,[18][19] although this number is likely much higher due to the irregularity of Russian updates.
War crimes
On 13 June, Amnesty International published a report saying that Russian forces had carried out a "relentless campaign of indiscriminate bombardments" in the battle, including the use of banned cluster munitions, scatterable land mines, and Grad rockets. Amnesty stated that these attacks constituted war crimes and potentially represented deliberate targeting of civilians. [153]