Kozinka () is a

rural locality In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry are typically describ ...

(a selo) and the administrative center of Kozinskoye Rural Settlement,

Grayvoronsky District Grayvoronsky District () is an administrative district (raion), one of the twenty-one in Belgorod Oblast, Russia.Law #248 Municipally, it is incorporated as Grayvoronsky Municipal District.Law #159 It is located in the west of the oblast. The a ...

Belgorod Oblast Belgorod Oblast () is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (an oblast) of Russia. Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Belgorod. , the population is 1,540,486. History During the Princely ...

, Russia. The population was 1,097 as of 2010. In 2023, the village was attacked and briefly occupied by pro-Ukrainian forces during the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

. During the

March 2024 western Russia incursion On 12 March 2024, during the Russo-Ukrainian War, Ukrainian-backed armed groups launched a cross-border incursion from Ukraine into Russia. They entered Belgorod and Kursk Oblasts and clashed with the Russian military. At least three groups too ...

, Kozinka was practically destroyed by Russian bombing.

Geography

Kozinka is located 12 km southwest of

Grayvoron Grayvoron (, ) is a town and the administrative center of Grayvoronsky District in Belgorod Oblast, Russia. It is on the Vorskla river (a tributary of the Dnieper) and the Grayvoronka river. It was known as ''Grayvorony'' until 1838. History ...

(the district's administrative centre) by road. Glotovo is the nearest rural locality.

History

A historical source testifies that the year 1663 is listed as the date of foundation of the settlement Verbovoye. Later, the Cherkasy (

Little Russians Little Russia, also known as Lesser Russia, Malorussia, or Little Rus', is a geographical and historical term used to describe Ukraine. At the beginning of the 14th century, the patriarch of Constantinople accepted the distinction between what ...

) who arrived and settled there renamed the village Kozinka. According to archaeological finds, the village has a more ancient history, as evidenced by the arrowheads found in the left-bank part of the village, belonging to the

Scythian culture The Scythian culture was an Iron Age archaeological culture which flourished on the Pontic-Caspian steppe in Eastern Europe from about 700 BC to 200 AD. It is associated with the Scythians, Cimmerians, and other peoples inhabiting the region of ...

. In 1896, in honor of the accession and marriage of

Emperor Nicholas II Nicholas II (Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov; 186817 July 1918) or Nikolai II was the last reigning Emperor of Russia, Congress Poland, King of Congress Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland from 1 November 1894 until Abdication of Nicholas II, hi ...

, the village's inhabitants began the construction of a church in the name of

John the Apostle John the Apostle (; ; ), also known as Saint John the Beloved and, in Eastern Orthodox Christianity, Saint John the Theologian, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. Generally listed as the youngest apostle, he ...

2023–24 incursions

In May 2023, during the

, the governor of

Vyacheslav Gladkov Vyacheslav Vladimirovich Gladkov (; born 15 January 1969) is a Russian politician serving as the governor of Belgorod Oblast since 27 September 2021. He served as the acting governor from 18 November 2020 before his election. He is a member of t ...

, said that Ukrainian "sabotage groups" entered

. Ukrainian media reported that the cross-border excursion was by Russian rebel opposition groups, the

Russian Volunteer Corps The Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC; ) is a far-right paramilitary unit of Russia, Russian citizens, based in Ukraine. It was formed in August 2022, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, to fight against the Russia under Vladimir Putin, governm ...

and the

Freedom of Russia Legion The Freedom of Russia Legion (FRL, ; ; abbr. ''ЛСР'', ''LSR''), also called the Free Russia Legion, is a Ukrainian-based Paramilitary, paramilitary unit of Russian citizens, which Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia, opposes the Russia u ...

. The militants claimed to have captured the villages of Kozinka and

Gora-Podol Gora-Podol () is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, rural locality (a Village#Russia, selo) and the administrative center of Gora-Podolskoye Rural Settlement, Grayvoronsky District, Belgorod Oblast, Russia. The population was 1,862 as of 2 ...

. They were later forced out of the villages. In March 2024, during an incursion from Ukraine, the Siberian Battalion raised its flag in Kozinka, together with the Russian Volunteer Corps. On 20 March 2024, the

Russian defence ministry The Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation (; MOD) is the governing body of the Russian Armed Forces. The President of Russia is the Commander-in-Chief of the forces and directs the activity of the ministry. The Minister of Defence exerci ...

claimed that pro-Kremlin forces had "fully cleared" Kozinka from the "militants", killing 650 of them with "air strikes and artillery fire." German milblogger Julian Roepke assessed that the Russian military had air-dropped high-explosive

FAB-500 The FAB-500 is a Soviet-designed general purpose air-dropped bomb with a high-explosive warhead, primarily used by the Russian Aerospace Forces, former Soviet republics and customer countries. The original M-54 model was rolled out in 1954, ...

bombs in its efforts. Kozinka was practically destroyed by Russian bombing. According to a villager, "There is not a single whole house left" in Kozinka.

References

{{Authority control Rural localities in Grayvoronsky District Volchansky Uezd