Battle of Kherson

"Kherson offensive" redirects here. Not to be confused with 2022 Kherson counteroffensive.

For Ukraine's recapture of the city, see Liberation of Kherson.

Battle of Kherson
Part of the southern Ukraine campaign of the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Date 24 February – 2 March 2022 (6 days) Location In and around Kherson, Kherson Oblast, Ukraine Result Russian victory
Belligerents
Russia	Ukraine
Units involved
Russian Armed Forces 58th Combined Arms Army 42nd Guards Motor Rifle Division^[1] 22nd Army Corps 126th Coastal Defense Brigade^[2] Russian Airborne Forces 7th Guards Mountain Air Assault Division^[2]	Ukrainian Armed Forces 59th Motorized Brigade^[3] 124th Territorial Defense Brigade 194th Belozersky Battalion
Casualties and losses
1 Su-25 aircraft 1 Mi-24 helicopter Per Ukraine: Heavy	Per Ukraine: ~300 soldiers and civilians killed

The battle of Kherson was a battle between Russian and Ukrainian forces that began on 24 February 2022 as part of the southern Ukraine campaign of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.^[4] The battle ended on 2 March 2022 with the capture of the city of Kherson and a pocket of land on the right bank of the Dnieper river by Russian forces.^[5] Russia began a military occupation of the area.

The battle of Kherson was a major defeat for Ukraine; Kherson was the first major city, and the only regional capital, to be captured by Russian forces during the invasion.^[6] Russian forces also took the city without much resistance, which has been widely attributed to treachery on the part of several local officials.

Battle

Initial Russian attacks

On 24 February, Russian forces invaded Kherson Oblast from the south through Crimea, with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying "Our troops are fighting fierce battles near the outskirts of Kherson, the enemy is pressing from the occupied Crimea, trying to advance towards Melitopol."^[7]

At 4:30 AM, Russian forces began shelling Kherson International Airport with Kalibr missiles in an attempt to destroy Ukrainian helicopters. The Ukrainian military was, however, aware of the Russian invasion ahead of time and had moved the helicopters away from the airport. At approximately 10:00 AM, Russian troops entered Nova Kakhovka, briefly capturing the city, with the Russian flag being hung on the roof of the Kakhovka Dam. Around 11 AM, Russian forces disembarked from helicopters around the Antonivka Bridge as well as the towns of Antonivka, and Sadove [uk].^[8] Later in the day, Russian forces reached the city of Kherson and captured the Antonivka Bridge,^[9][10] which is a strategic crossing over the Dnieper River, and provided a route towards the junction city of Mykolaiv.^[11] The Kherson Territorial Defense Forces, units of the 59th Infantry Brigade, and the 80th separate amphibious assault brigade managed to knock out the Russian landing force and hold positions under the Antonivka Bridge, which enabled the Ukrainian military to escape from a brief encirclement.^[8] At the end of the day, Russian troops had captured several towns in the region including Henichesk, Skadovsk, Kakhovka, Nova Kakhovka, Tavriisk, as well as the Kakhovka Dam and the North Crimean Canal.^{[citation needed]} The head of the Kherson State Administration, Hennadiy Lahuta, left the city of Kherson on the first day of the war. The mayor of Kherson, Ihor Kolykhaiev, remained in the city.^[8]

By the early hours of 25 February, Ukrainian forces recaptured the bridge in a battle that was described as fierce and left dead soldiers and several destroyed military vehicles lying on the bridge.^[10][12][13] The counterattack forced the Russians to push north and capture the next closest crossing of the Dnieper, the city of Nova Kakhovka.^[14][15] Russian troops once again seized the Antonivka Bridge later in the day.^[16] The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) assessed that Russian forces fully captured Kherson the same day.^[17]

Ukrainian counterattack

 

The Antonivka Road Bridge, pictured in 2006

Ukraine retook Kherson on 26 February.^[18] According to a Tweet by the Kyiv Independent, Mayor Kolykhaiev stated that Russian forces pulled back from Kherson after a Ukrainian air strike on Russian armored vehicles, allowing the city to remain under Ukrainian control.^{[19][better source needed][20]} A Ukrainian official, Anton Herashchenko, later claimed that a Russian army column was defeated by Ukrainian forces near the town of Oleshky, just south of Kherson.^[21] Ukrainian air defense shot down a Russian Su-25 and Mi-24 on the 26th as well.^[22]

On the morning of 27 February, the Russian Ministry of Defence stated that Russian forces had encircled Kherson and, according to Ukrainian officials, captured a part of the city, including Kherson International Airport.^[23][24][25] Later in the morning, the Ukrainian Air Force allegedly conducted a successful drone strike against Russian forces in the town of Chornobaivka, just to the north of Kherson.^[26]

Encirclement and Russian victory

On 28 February, Russian troops completely encircled Kherson. Later the same day, they entered the village of Zymivnyk from the Kherson International Airport in Chornobaivka.^[27][28]

In the early morning of 1 March, Ukrainian officials stated that Russian forces had launched a renewed assault on Kherson and were advancing from Kherson International Airport to the highway between Kherson and Mykolaiv. While conducting heavy shelling, Russian forces surrounded the city and reached the highway, advancing to the village of Komyshany before establishing a checkpoint.^[29][30] Russian forces entered Kherson later in the day.^[31]

At around 10 a.m., more than 40 Ukrainian soldiers of the 194th Belozersky Battalion of the 124th Separate Territorial Defense Brigade went to Lilac Park, in the shipping district of Kherson.^[32] Located near Lilac Park is the Kherson Oil Refinery. The Ukrainian military expected only light Russian infantry to be present in Lilac Park. When they arrived, however, the Russian military was fully present, with tanks and armored vehicles.^[33][32] At around 11 a.m., a 20–30 minute engagement took place between Russian and Ukrainian soldiers at the park. The engagement left at least 24 Ukrainian soldiers killed, with the Russian military "finishing off" any wounded Ukrainian soldiers found after the battle.^[33][32] Only one Russian soldier was killed during the engagement.^[33] Some of the Ukrainian soldiers who survived the battle retreated to the oil refinery and later left it.^[32]

In the early morning of 2 March, Kolykhaiev reported that Russian forces captured a railway station and the Kherson River Port.^[34] Later in the morning, Russian forces were seen at Svobody Square in central Kherson, where the Kherson Regional Administration building is located.^[29] Later in the day, a group of about ten Russian officers, including a commander, entered the city council building where Kolykhaiev was.^[35] That evening, Kolykhaiev announced that he had surrendered the city and that the Russian commander intended to set up a military administration.^[35] Kolykhaiev acknowledged the Ukrainian military was no longer present in Kherson, and another official stated the Russian military was in all parts of the city.^[5][36]

Aftermath

Further information: Russian occupation of Kherson Oblast

 

Protests by residents of Kherson against the Russian occupation of Kherson city in early March 2022

After capturing Kherson, Russia began a military occupation of the city and surrounding region.^[37] They suppressed protests by locals by force.^[38][39] On 22 March, the Ukrainian government warned Kherson was facing a "humanitarian catastrophe" as the city was running out of food and medical supplies and accused Russia of blocking evacuation of civilians to Ukraine-controlled territory.^[40][41] The occupying forces committed numerous human rights violations against the populace, including torture and arbitrary detentions.^[42][43]

On 23 March, Ukrainian forces launched counterattacks against Russian forces in Kherson Oblast.^[44][45] A senior US defense official claimed that the Russian forces no longer had full control of Kherson as the Ukrainians fought "fiercely" to recover the city. CNN, however, reported the situation in the city remained unchanged, citing residents confirming Kherson was under full Russian control.^[46] Ukrainians in Kherson also "questioned the Pentagon’s assessment, saying that the city remained in Russian hands".^[47][48]

Casualties and war crimes

According to Kolykhaiev, speaking immediately after the battle, the battle led to the deaths of around 300 Ukrainian soldiers and civilians and severe destruction of the city's infrastructure.^[35] He also said that bodies were being buried in mass graves, and that many remains were unrecognizable.^[35][49] Kolykhaiev described the impact on citizens in the city, stating that many remained in their homes and in bomb shelters during the battle. He also claimed that schools and high rise buildings were damaged by the fighting, while residential buildings were being fired upon by Russian forces. Kolykhaiev also claimed that on 1 March, Russian soldiers shot citizens who were armed with Molotov cocktails.^[34]

On 25 February, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General, Iryna Venediktova, claimed that Russian forces murdered a journalist and an ambulance driver near Kherson. Venediktova stated that Ukrainian law enforcement had opened criminal proceedings into the shootings.^[50] Ukrainian officials alleged that beginning on 27 February, Russian forces began moving civilians from nearby villages towards Kherson, attempting to use them as human shields.^[51]

The Ukrainian government also said that Russia had taken "heavy losses" during the battle.^[16] In May 2022, Valentyna Romanova, a writer for the European Consortium for Political Research, published that Ukraine sustained 300 military losses during the battle, with the entire Ukrainian defense force at Kherson being shot and killed amid the fighting.^[52]

Analysis

Treachery and collaboration

In November 2023, Gilbert W. Merkx, a professor at Duke University, along with the United States Marine Corps University, published an article in the Journal of Advanced Military Studies and in Project Muse, where it was stated Russia captured Kherson with "little resistance". Merkx also stated that Russia planned and attempted to execute an amphibious landing assault on Kherson as a second offensive axis, but was stopped by the Ukrainian coastal defenses in the early stages of the invasion.^[53]

After Kherson was captured by Russia, questions about how it was captured so easily were asked by several people.^[54][55][56] Orysia Lutsevych, a member of the Chatham House think tank stated that "...Russia had its agents infiltrated into the Ukrainian security forces..."^[55] On April 1, 2022, Ukrainian president Zelenskyy dismissed the head of the SBU's Kherson regional branch as well as another general in the region as traitors. Zelenskyy described their actions as that of "anti-heroes", and that he "...had trouble determining where their Fatherland is".^[55][54] An aide to one of the generals was also arrested for handing over minefield maps to Russian forces and helping coordinate Russian airstrikes in the region.^[54][55]

Significance

El País described the battle as "Ukraine’s worst defeat in the war".^[57] Kherson also has symbolic significance, as it was the first major city and the only oblast capital captured by Russian forces during the full-scale invasion.^[35][58] Strategically, Kherson has been described by analysts as "a gateway to Crimea", and offers control of the Dnieper river to the side that controls it.^[58] On 2 March, just after Kherson was captured, there was a measured spike in bots on Twitter (now 𝕏) in pro-Russian hashtags, including #IStandWithPutin.^[59] On 4 March, there was a measured spike in bots promoting the pro-Ukrainian hashtag #IStandWithUkraine, which the Australian University of Adelaide believed to have been Ukrainian authorities countering Russian authorities in propaganda.^[59]

See also

• Battle of Mykolaiv
• 2022 Chornobaivka attacks

References

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