Battle of Kharkiv (2022)
[56] The Ukrainian military first started preparing the defense of Kharkiv Oblast in case of a Russian invasion after the appointment of Valerii Zaluzhnyi as commander-in-chief in July 2021.[57] Part of the body of forces broke off towards Vovchansk, capturing the city after a short battle and heading south towards Izium.[60] On 26 February, Oleh Synyehubov, the Ukrainian Governor of Kharkiv Oblast announced a curfew and that non-military vehicles on the street would be "liquidated.Ukrainian officials claimed that their forces had destroyed at least 6 GAZ Tigr-Ms, half of Russian military vehicles that had advanced into Kharkiv.[79] Later on 28 February, Terekhov reported that Russian forces were beginning to destroy electrical substations in Kharkiv, resulting in some areas of the city being disconnected from power, heating and water.[81][82] Later on 28 February, Human Rights Watch stated that Russian forces used cluster bombs in the Industrialnyi, Saltivskyi and Shevchenkivskyi districts of the city.[108] The Security Service of Ukraine stated on 6 March that Russian BM-21 Grads were shelling the Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology, which houses a nuclear research facility, and warned it could lead to a large-scale ecological disaster.[109] The International Atomic Energy Agency stated the next day that the nuclear research facility had reportedly been damaged but there was no radiation leak.[123] The following day, Synyehubov claimed that the city had been shelled 65 times on 14 March, killing a civilian, and that 600 residential buildings had been destroyed in Kharkiv.[126] On 18 March, Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor's Office reported shelling of residential buildings in Slobidskyi and Moskovskyi districts of the city.[127] Russian shelling of Saltivka killed 96-year-old Boris Romanchenko, who survived four Nazi concentration camps and was engaged in preserving the memory of the crimes of Nazism.[131] Ukrainian forces retook the villages of Mala Rohan and Vilkhivka, approximately 20 kilometers east of Kharkiv, on 25 March.[134] Head of HOVA, military governor Oleh Synyehubov, reported that Russians had again hit city neighbourhoods with cluster munitions.[135] After retaking the village of Mala Rohan, Ukrainian forces managed to reopen the highway between Kharkiv and Chuhuiv by 30 March.[137][138] Meanwhile, the Russians claimed to have killed, on the same day, more than 100 "extremists and mercenaries" from Western countries in Kharkiv with a high-precision Iskander missile strike on a defense base.By 1 April, the Institute for the Study of War assessed that Russian command had abandoned its operations to encircle and capture Kharkiv, now seeking to fix in place Ukrainian mechanized units to prevent them from reinforcing the Donbas or launching counterattacks elsewhere.They also claimed that 500 more soldiers, also from the same division, were in hospital suffering from heavy alcohol poisoning "of unknown origin," and that the Russian command is writing off these cases as "not combat losses.In addition, he stated that Ukrainian forces had destroyed five tanks and ten armored vehicles "by jet fire" and had killed or captured 100 Russian soldiers.[51] On 2 May, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported that Ukraine retook the village of Staryi Saltiv, 40 km east of the city.[156][157] On 6 May, the ISW described a Ukrainian counteroffensive "along a broad arc" north and east of Kharkiv, reporting that Ukraine had recaptured "several villages," including Tsyrkuny, Peremoha and part of Cherkaski Tyshky.[169] On 6 July, Russian shelling destroyed one of the buildings at Kharkiv National Pedagogical University and a former manor house and architectural monument built in 1832.[7][184] On 26 March, Ukraine claimed to have killed 645 soldiers from a single battalion tactical group from the 200th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade.[32] On 29 March, Ukraine claimed to have completely destroyed 2 battalion tactical groups, also from the 200th Brigade, and inflicted casualties on others, killing more than 1,500 soldiers.[185][186] On 21 May, in a statement the Ukrainian police confirmed the recovery of the bodies of six military officials, including a Russian colonel, in the settlement of Zolochiv.A breakdown of these losses by Business Insider revealed "that the 1st Guards Tank Regiment (part of the 2nd Motor-Rifle Division) lost 45 out of its 93 upgraded T-72B3M tanks—i.e.[citation needed] 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.
Battle of Kharkiveastern Ukraine campaignRussian invasion of UkraineKharkivRussiaUkraineRussian Ground Forces1st Guards Tank Army2nd 'Tamanskaya' Guards Motor Rifle Division4th Guards Tank Division27th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade20th Guards Combined Arms Army3rd Motor Rifle Division144th Guards Motor Rifle Division6th Combined Arms Army41st Combined Arms Army14th Army Corps200th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade80th Arctic Motor Rifle BrigadePMC RedutArmed Forces of UkraineUkrainian Ground Forces40th Artillery Brigade92nd Mechanized Brigade22nd Motorized Infantry Battalion93rd Mechanized BrigadeKraken RegimentTerritorial Defense ForcesInternational LegionUkrainian Air ForceNational Guard of Ukraine3rd Spartan Brigade5th Slovozhansk BrigadeSecurity Service of UkraineNational Police of UkraineDzhokhar Dudayev BattalionSich BattalionUkrainian irregulars1st GTA20th CAA80th Brigade200th BrigadeTimelineFebruary – April 2022April – August 2022August – November 2022November 2022 – June 2023June – August 2023September – November 2023December 2023 – March 2024April – July 2024August – December 2024January 2025 – presentPreludeCasualtiesTerritorial controlList of engagementsWar crimesAttacks on civiliansEconomic impactPeace negotiationsCollaboration with RussiaRussian emigrationNuclear riskHumanitarian impactsRussian annexationTreatment of prisoners of warRussian invasion of Ukraine (2022)Northern frontAntonov AirportChernobylHostomelKyiv strikesshopping centre bombingRussian Kyiv convoymassacrerefugee column shellingMakarivMoshchunKozarovytska DamBrovarySlavutychBorodiankaammonia leakChernihivChernihiv strikes3 March 2022 bombing16 March 2022 breadline attackLebedynNorthern Ukraine skirmishesEastern frontMariupolhospital airstriketheatre airstrikeart school bombingKharkiv strikesFebruary cluster bombinggovernment building airstrikeMarch cluster bombingApril cluster bombingdormitories missile strikeChuhuiv Air BaseVolnovakhaStara KrasniankaMarch 2022 attackJune 2022 attackSeptember 2022 attackRubizhnePopasnaMarinkarailway station attackBattle of DonbasSiverskyi Donetsschool bombingSievierodonetskLysychanskChasiv Yar strikeOlenivka massacreBakhmutSoledarVuhledarMakiivka2nd KharkivKupianskcivilian convoy shelling2nd Lyman