The Battle of Konotop was a military engagement that took place around the city of

Konotop Konotop ( uk, Конотоп ) is a city in Sumy Oblast in northeastern Ukraine. Konotop serves as the administrative center of Konotop Raion. Konotop is located about 129 km from Sumy, the oblast administrative center. It is host to Ko ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

between the military forces of

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

and

as part of the

Northeastern Ukraine offensive The northeastern Ukraine campaign was a theatre of operation from 24 February to 8 April 2022 in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine for control of two provinces (oblasts) in Ukraine — Chernihiv Oblast and Sumy Oblast. On 4 April 2022, Uk ...

during the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

Battle

On 24 February, a mixed Russian column of up to 300 vehicles approached Konotop, before engaging Ukrainian mechanized units. On 25 February, burned Russian equipment was seen in Konotop and its outskirts, while the city was besieged by the Russian army. The Ukrainian Army stated that Russian forces besieging the city were poorly supplied. However, Ukrainian forces lost control of the city later that day.

Aftermath

On 2 March, Artem Seminikhin, the mayor of Konotop, stated that Russian forces in the city warned him that they would shell the city if the residents resisted them. Russian vehicles, deployed outside the City Council, were surrounded by locals. Seminikhin asked the residents of the city whether they wanted to fight or surrender, whereupon the residents "overwhelmingly" refused to surrender. Later in the day, city authorities began negotiations with Russian forces, with talks lasting 12 minutes. An agreement was reached under which Russian forces accepted not to change the city's government, deploy troops in the city, obstruct transportation, or remove the Ukrainian flag. In return, the city officials agreed that the residents would not attack Russian forces. On 3 April, Ukrainian MP Olexander Kachura stated on

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that all Russian forces had left Konotop Raion. On 4 April 2022 Sumy Oblast's Governor

Dmytro Zhyvytskyi Dmytro Oleksiyovych Zhyvytskyi ( uk, Дмитро Олексійович Живицький; born on 17 September 1982), is a Ukrainian politician, entrepreneur, public figure, and civil servant who has been the Governor of Sumy Oblast since ...

stated that Russian troops no longer occupied any towns or villages in Sumy Oblast and had mostly withdrawn, while Ukrainian troops were working to push out the remaining units.

References

{{coord missing, Ukraine

February 2022 events in Ukraine Konotop March 2022 events in Ukraine Northeastern Ukraine campaign