Russian occupation of Kharkiv Oblast
The Russian occupation of Kharkiv Oblast is an ongoing military occupation that began on 24 February 2022, after Russian forces invaded Ukraine and began capturing and occupying parts of Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine. Russian forces failed to capture the capital city of the oblast, Kharkiv. However, other major cities including Izium, Kupiansk, and Balakliia were captured by Russian forces. Since November 2022, Russia only occupies a small portion of land in the Kharkiv Oblast.
In early September 2022, Ukraine began a major counteroffensive, regaining several settlements in the region and ending numerous Russian military or military-civilian administrations.
Background
The city of Vovchansk and the town of Velykyi Burluk came under Russian control on 24 February 2022, the first day of the Russian invasion. Shevchenkove came under Russian occupation on 26 February 2022. Russian forces entered Kupiansk on 27 February. Balakliia was taken by Russian forces on 2 March.The city of Izium was captured by Russian forces on 1 April 2022.
History
In May 2022, a pro-Russian military-civilian administration was created for the Russian-controlled parts of Kharkiv Oblast. Four military-civilian raion administrations were also established for Kupiansk Raion, Izium Raion, Kharkiv Raion and Vovchansk Raion.Vitaly Ganchev, a former lieutenant colonel in the Ukrainian police, was made the head of the oblast military-civilian administration the same month. On 19 August Andrey Alekseyenko was appointed first deputy head of the Kharkiv Oblast military-civilian administration and Prime Minister.
On 8 July 2022, Ganchev said that Kharkiv Oblast was an "inalienable" part of Russian territory and intended for Kharkiv Oblast to be annexed by the Russian Federation via referendum. But on 11 August, Ganchev told the Russia-24 TV channel that the authorities of the territories of the Kharkiv Oblast controlled by Russian troops are not yet ready to discuss a referendum on joining Russia, because "only 20 percent and no more" of the region is under Russian control. According to Ukrainian intelligence, before the Ukrainian counteroffensive, Russia planned to hold a referendum in Kharkiv Oblast in November, with a planned 75% vote in favour of joining Russia.
Ukraine began a counteroffensive in the Kharkiv Oblast in early September. By 10 September 2022, Ukraine recaptured Izium, ending the military-civilian administration and Russian occupation of the city. By 11 September, Russia had withdrawn from most of the settlements it previously occupied in the oblast, including Kupiansk, Vovchansk, Balakliia and Shevchenkove. The Russian Ministry of Defense also announced a formal withdrawal of Russian forces from all of Kharkiv Oblast west of the Oskil river stating that an "operation to curtail and transfer troops was underway."
The Kharkov Military-Civilian Administration, originally based in Kupiansk, briefly relocated to Vovchansk on 8 September 2022, but moved again before the city was recaptured by Ukrainian forces on 11 September 2022. By 18 September 2022, Russian forces only occupied a small strip of Kharkiv Oblast east of the Oskil. On 13 September 2022, Ukrainian forces had reportedly crossed the Oskil and had set up positions at multiple locations.
On 3 October 2022, Russian forces fled from Nyzhche Solone, Pidlyman, Nyzhnia Zhuravka, Borova, and Shyikivka, allowing Ukrainian authorities to regain control of almost all of the oblast.
After the 2022 Ukrainian counteroffensive
In a February 2023 interview, Ganchev said that the military-civilian administration was continuing its work, and that about twenty settlements in the Kharkiv Oblast were still under Russian control.In a December 2024 interview, Ganchev said that there were about 2,000 civilians living in the Russian-controlled parts of Kharkiv Oblast, under frequent Ukrainian shelling and often without heat, electricity, and gas, due to the destruction of infrastructure over the course of the fighting. He said that a pro-Russian Kupiansk Raion military-civilian administration had continued its work even after the 2022 Kharkiv counteroffensive, and that at least 34 settlements in that area were under Russian control. Ganchev said that the administration provides the civilians there with social services and assistance in obtaining Russian citizenship, and that voting for the 2024 Russian presidential election was conducted in some settlements in the area.
By November 2024, in the northeastern part of the Kharkiv Oblast, Russian forces crossed the Oskil River. On 28 January 2025, Russian officials claimed to have retaken the town of Dvorichna, which had a pre-war population of over 3,000 inhabitants.
In March 2025, Ganchev said that while about 70 settlements in the Kharkiv Oblast were under Russian control, his administration still only exercised authority over 34 of them.
On 5 August 2025, Russia entered the northern part of Kupiansk.
Human rights and humanitarian effect
According to The Guardian, inhabitants of occupied Izium had survived in their basements for three weeks without electricity, heating or running water. The report also claimed that Russian soldiers had prepared lists of individuals to "hunt": gun owners, wealthy people and others deemed "dangerous" such as businessmen, activists, military, and their families. The Russian army was also accused of barring passage of humanitarian convoys while food and medicine available in the city was running out.Following the end of the Russian occupation on 10 September, multiple bodies were discovered in the town of, reportedly killed by Russian troops during the early days of the war.
Partisan and other resistance
On 3 April 2022, the Ukrainian government stated that two Russian soldiers were killed and 28 others hospitalized after Ukrainian civilians handed out poisoned cakes to Russian soldiers of the Russian 3rd Motor Rifle Division in Izium.On 11 July 2022, the Russian-appointed military-civilian administration leader of Velykyi Burluk, Yevgeny Yunakov, was assassinated in a car bombing.
On 23 November 2023 the Russian-appointed deputy head of the occupation administration Oleksandr Slisarenko was killed when his car exploded in Belgorod, Russia. An anonymous source told Ukrainska Pravda that the Security Service of Ukraine was responsible for his killing.