Battle of Kharkiv (2022)

The Battle of Kharkiv was a military engagement that took place from February to May 2022 in and around the city of Kharkiv, as part of the northeastern Ukraine offensive and eastern Ukraine offensive during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Kharkiv, located just south of the Russia–Ukraine border and a predominately Russian-speaking city, is the second-largest city in Ukraine and was considered a major target for the Russian military early in the invasion.

By 13 May, Ukrainian forces pushed Russian units attempting to encircle the city back towards the Russian border. Additionally, it was reported that Russia had withdrawn units from the area. The Institute for the Study of War opined that Ukraine had "likely won the battle of Kharkiv". However, bombardment continued, and by 20 May, Russian forces were again shelling Kharkiv city. As a result of the subsequent counteroffensive in the Kharkiv Oblast, Russian forces located close to the city were pushed back, resulting in significantly reduced pressure on Kharkiv.

On 12 June, Amnesty International claimed it found the evidence of widespread use of widely-banned cluster munitions by Russia, such as 9N210/9N235 cluster bombs, and "scatterable" munitions that eject small mines that explode later in timed intervals. Four months after the battle, Ukraine launched a major counteroffensive in September to recapture territories that were still under Russian control in Kharkiv Oblast. The significance of the battle and its importance has been compared to the Battle of Saratoga during the American War of Independence.

Battle

Commencement of operations (24–28 February)

On 24 February, Russian forces amassed in Belgorod crossed the border and began advancing towards Kharkiv, meeting Ukrainian resistance. Pavlo Fedosenko, commander of the 92nd Mechanized Brigade, noted that explosions were heard outside his military unit at 4 a.m. The Russian artillery fired barrages at the city, killing a young boy.

By 25 February, fierce fighting had broken out in the northern suburbs of the city, near the village of Tsyrkuny, where Ukrainian forces were able to hold against Russian forces.

On 26 February, Oleh Synyehubov, the Governor of Kharkiv Oblast, claimed that the entire city remained under Ukrainian control. American officials reported that the heaviest fighting of the entire conflict was occurring at Kharkiv.

In the early morning of 27 February, Russian forces destroyed a gas pipeline in Kharkiv. Later in the morning, Russian forces entered Kharkiv, with Synyehubov reporting that heavy fighting was occurring within the city, and Ministry of Internal Affairs advisor Anton Herashchenko claiming street fighting was underway in the city centre. Fedosenko recounted that “Everyone was fighting for Kharkiv: both the military and civilians. Units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Territorial Defense, the National Guard, the police, and volunteers. The enemy was being beaten literally on every street.” Russian forces also tried to take the city from the west by breaking through on a road going through the woods at Pisochyn, but Fedosenko was notified of this and ordered a counterattack, which halted the Russian advance.

Russian Ministry of Defence spokesman Igor Konashenkov later claimed that Russian forces had secured the surrender of the Ukrainian 302nd Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment and captured 471 Ukrainian soldiers, a claim that Ukrainian officials denied. Ukrainian officials claimed that their forces had destroyed half of Russian military vehicles that had advanced into Kharkiv, including at least 6 GAZ Tigr-Ms.

By the afternoon of 27 February, Synyehubov reported that Ukrainian forces had regained full control of the city. He added that dozens of Russian soldiers had surrendered. Fedosenko stated that the Ukrainian forces “drove the Russians out of the city, dug in and that's it.”

On 28 February, Herashchenko claimed that Russian rocket strikes on the city had killed dozens of civilians, while Synyehubov reported that eleven civilians were killed and dozens wounded, and Ihor Terekhov, the mayor of Kharkiv, reporting that nine civilians were killed and 37 were wounded. One of those killed was a 25-year-old student from Algeria, who was killed by a Russian sniper.

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. He also added that 87 homes had been damaged in Russian shelling. It was also reported that the Malyshev Factory had been destroyed by Russian shelling.

Later on 28 February, Human Rights Watch stated that Russian forces used cluster bombs in the Industrialnyi, Saltivskyi and Shevchenkivskyi districts of the city. Human Rights Watch noted that the use of cluster bombs is prohibited by the 2010 Convention on Cluster Munitions and that their use "might constitute a war crime", due to the threat they pose to civilians.

Intensified fighting (1 March – 2 April)

On the morning of 1 March, a Russian 3M54-1 Kalibr missile struck Freedom Square in central Kharkiv, detonating in front of the Kharkiv Oblast administrative building. The Slovene consulate was destroyed in the blast. An opera house and a concert hall were also damaged. At least 24 people were wounded and 29 were killed, according to the regional administration.

The Biathlon Federation of Ukraine later reported that one of the Ukrainian soldiers killed in Kharkiv on 1 March was Yevgeny Malyshev, a biathlete and former member of the Ukrainian national team.

Later on 1 March, it was reported that an 21-year-old Indian student studying at Kharkiv National Medical University had been killed during Russian shelling. The student was from the village of Chalageri in Karnataka. According to the local Indian student coordinator, he was killed by an airstrike in the morning while he stood in a line-up to buy groceries. Indian authorities later announced they had evacuated all Indian nationals from Kyiv as part of a wider operation. Of the 8,000 Indian students that were still in Ukraine on 1 March, around half were located in Kharkiv and Sumy. A member of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, Mayna Fenina, was also killed during shelling on 1 March.

On 2 March, Synyehubov stated that at least 21 people had been killed and 112 wounded in the previous 24 hours. Russian paratroopers landed in Kharkiv and conducted a raid on a Ukrainian military hospital after an aerial assault on the city, leading to heavy clashes between Russian and Ukrainian forces. A local official later claimed that Ukrainian forces still controlled the hospital.

The Kharkiv Police headquarters, a military academy and the National University of Kharkiv were damaged by Russian shelling during the morning. Several residential areas were also struck by Russian missiles. Russian missiles later struck Freedom Square again, damaging the Kharkiv City Council building and the Derzhprom, in addition to some high-rise buildings.

On the night of 2 March, two missiles struck the headquarters of the Kharkiv Territorial Defence Forces. The Assumption Cathedral, which was being used as a shelter by civilians, was also damaged, along with the Catholic Church of St. Anthony. CNN released a report claiming that of all the 16 locations in Kharkiv targeted by Russian shelling that week; only three were non-civilian areas.

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. The International Atomic Energy Agency stated the next day that the nuclear research facility had reportedly been damaged but there was no radiation leak. Local emergency officials stated that at least eight civilians had been killed in the shelling on the city overnight. The Azerbaijani consulate in the city was meanwhile severely damaged and the Albanian consulate was demolished.

On 7 March, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence announced that Ukrainian forces had killed Russian Major General Vitaly Gerasimov, a deputy commander of the 41st Combined Arms Army. This claim later turned out to be untrue, as Gerasimov received the Order of Alexander Nevsky on May 23. Other Russian officers were also killed in the attack. Russian soldiers also killed two civilian volunteers at the Feldman Ecopark as they entered the animals' enclosure to feed them.

On 8 March, Synyehubov stated that more than 600,000 civilians had been evacuated from the city via railways. Ukrainian officials stated that all of Kharkiv was under their control, and that aside from some shelling on the outskirts of the city, no Russian offensive action was being taken.

On 10 March, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine