Southern front of the Russo-Ukrainian war (2022–present)
On 24 February 2022, the Russian military invaded Kherson Oblast in southern Ukraine from Russian-occupied Crimea, quickly entering Mykolaiv Oblast and Zaporizhzhia Oblast amid battles with the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Elements from the southern Russian offensive joined forces with elements advancing from the Donbas to jointly surround and bombard the city of Mariupol in Donetsk Oblast, which fell after months of siege.
Kherson was surrounded two days into the war, after which Russian forces advanced to the outskirts of Mykolaiv, which they failed to capture. The front then stabilised until a Ukrainian offensive in August. Ukrainian forces retook all of the territory west and north of the Dnieper river, and the front stabilised again just south of Kherson in November 2022. Kherson, the only oblast capital captured by Russia after its 2022 invasion, was liberated on 11 November.
Background
In the aftermath of the Maidan Revolution in 2014, Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine. Russian troops occupied the self-proclaimed Republic of Crimea for the next eight years. The Chonhar Peninsula bordering Crimea was under Russian control until December 2014; the Ukrainian military began fortifying it the following year, placing explosives on several bridges in the area, though most of these failed to detonate on the first day of the invasion.The Russian military presence in Crimea significantly increased during the pre-war military buildup on Ukraine's borders, with over 10,000 additional troops deployed in late January and early February. On the eve of the invasion, Russian manpower in Crimea was estimated at 90,000.
Ukrainian plans called for Operational Command South, under Major General Andrii Sokolov, to be assigned two brigades of 3,000-5,000 men each, and a battalion of 500 troops stationed directly on the border with Crimea. In case of active hostilities, the formation was to be reinforced with two brigades of territorial defense: the 110th and 124th.
In reality, the Ukrainian force in the south mostly consisted of the main units of the 59th Motorized Infantry Brigade and the 137th Marine Battalion of the 35th Marine Brigade. A planned second brigade was never assigned, the territorial defense brigades had yet to be staffed, and the existing units were only at about 50-60% strength due to losses from fighting in the east and training assignments for various sub-units in different parts of the country. As a result, the Ukrainian force at the beginning of the invasion comprised about 1,300 men of the 59th Brigade stationed at a camp in the Oleshky Sands, 250-300 marines of the 137th Battalion positioned at the entrances to mainland Ukraine from Crimea, and various supplementary forces numbering "a couple hundred".
Russian documents captured by the Ukrainian military indicated plans to bypass Mykolaiv and land at Odesa within five days, capture Bilhorod-Dnistrovsky by the ninth day of the invasion, and reach the Moldova–Ukraine border by the eleventh day.
By 3:30 on 24 February, Ukraine closed all commercial shipping in the Sea of Azov, leaving more than 100 ships stuck in port. Starting at 4:00, the Ukrainian military observed over thirty Russian military aircraft taking off from Crimea. The planes flew over the Black and Azov Seas, launching strikes on Ukrainian military targets at 5:00, including "almost all" the military facilities in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts. Col., commanding the 137th Battalion, then reported that the Russian forces in Crimea had opened fire on the battalion's positions on the border.
According to Sokolov, up to 20,000 Russian troops in 25 battalion tactical groups took part in the subsequent invasion, including the entire 22nd Army Corps, at least one division of the 58th Combined Arms Army, and around half of the 7th Air Assault Division.
Timeline
Russian invasion
Kherson and Mykolaiv Oblasts
Shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a military operation in Ukraine, the Russian Air Force began to launch cruise and ballistic missiles at targets in several cities in Kherson Oblast. With air support, Russian Armed Forces then crossed into Kherson Oblast from Crimea. The Russian Navy used a naval blockade in the Black Sea to prevent Ukraine from providing support to units located near Kherson Oblast, and restrict commercial trade and the flow of goods to southern Ukraine.By evening, the Russians had reached Kherson. The Russians initially crossed the Dnieper River over the Antonovskiy Bridge, but Ukrainian mechanized forces were able to recapture the bridge.
Combat engineers of Ukraine's 137th Battalion were ordered to destroy a bridge connecting Henichesk with the Arabat Spit, in an attempt to slow the advance of Russian troops from Crimea, allowing the Ukrainians to retreat and regroup. Vitalii Skakun, the combat engineer who planted the explosives on the bridge, did not have enough time to retreat from the bridge, and so detonated the mines, killing himself and destroying the bridge.
The Ukrainian military announced that its Operational Command South had prepared the defense of Melitopol and was conducting defensive operations outside the settlement of Rykove.
Russian troops moved towards Nova Kakhovka and established control over the North Crimean Canal on 24 February. Following Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea, Ukraine had blocked the canal, which had provided 85% of Crimea's drinking water. Sergey Aksyonov, head of the Republic of Crimea, told local authorities to prepare the canal to receive water from the Dnieper and resume the supply of water to Crimea the following day.
Russian forces recaptured the Antonovskiy Bridge on the evening of 25 February.
On 26 February, according to Kherson mayor Ihor Kolykhaiev, a Ukrainian airstrike forced the Russians to retreat from Kherson, leaving the city under Ukrainian control. Ukrainian forces later recaptured the bridge. A Ukrainian official said that Russian forces had killed a journalist and an ambulance driver near the village of Zelenivka, a northern suburb of Kherson.
Another Ukrainian official later claimed that a Russian army column was defeated between the towns of Radensk and Oleshky, just south of Kherson.
In the afternoon of 26 February, 12 Russian tanks managed to break through in Kakhovka on the Dnieper and began advancing towards Mykolaiv. Vitaliy Kim, the governor of Mykolaiv Oblast, said the city had had five hours to prepare. Artillery and other arms were prepared.
By evening, Russian tanks were in the outskirts of Mykolaiv. Oleksandr Senkevych, the mayor of Mykolaiv, ordered citizens to stay indoors, as far away from windows as possible. Shortly after, Russian troops entered the city and a battle erupted outside of a shopping mall about 10 minutes later. According to some reports, tanks "passed through the city". There were also sightings of large fires. The next day, Ukrainian officials claimed that Russian forces were fully driven away from Mykolaiv. The city was extensively damaged.
Russian Ministry of Defense spokesperson Igor Konashenkov announced that the city of Henichesk and Kherson International Airport had surrendered to Russian forces in the morning. Later, Russian forces encircled and captured a part of Kherson, with Ukrainian officials corroborating this claim.
On 28 February, Ukrainian official Vadim Denysenko accused Russian forces of trying to use civilians from villages around Kherson as human shields to cross the bridge into Kherson. The same day, Russian troops advanced from Kherson towards Mykolaiv, reaching the city's outskirts and launching an assault at 11:00.
File:Russian tank trapped after Ukrainians demolished a bridge.jpg|thumb|A Russian T-72 tank trapped on a bridge demolished by the Ukrainians in Kalynivka, Mykolaiv Oblast, 2 March
Russian forces also shelled Bashtanka and Mykolaiv on 1 March. Ukrainian officials later claimed that a large Russian convoy was attacked and defeated by Ukrainian forces during the night near Bashtanka, forcing the Russians to retreat towards the neighboring city of Novyi Buh. They claimed that "several dozen armored vehicles" were destroyed in the attack. Kim stated that during the operation, a Ukrainian helicopter was destroyed, but its pilots survived.
The next day, Russian forces bombarded Voznesensk, which has a bridge that can be used to cross the Southern Bug instead of the one near Mykolaiv, during the morning. Russian paratroopers then landed at a forested ridge near the town, and an armored column approached it. Forces from the 126th Coastal Defence Brigade were attacked while trying to reach them.
The Russian troops, estimated to be 400 by Ukrainian officials, then captured the village of Rakove, whose houses it used to create a sniper nest. Afterwards, they set up a base at a gas station near the town's entrance and assaulted the base of the Territorial Defense Forces. Ukrainian forces struck back with artillery that night with the help of local volunteers who gave them coordinates. Local volunteers and Ukrainian soldiers were able to repel Russian troops from Voznesensk the next day, forcing most of them to retreat to the east and others to flee into nearby forests, where ten of them were later captured. Ukrainian officials stated that Russian forces had lost 30 vehicles in the battle, in addition to around 100 soldiers. Ten civilians were killed in the fighting.
In the early morning of 1 March, Russian forces began assaulting Kherson from the west, advancing from Kherson International Airport towards the highway to Mykolaiv. They were able to surround the city and reached the neighboring settlement of Komyshany. Later in the day, Russian forces entered Kherson.
In the early morning of 2 March, Russian forces seized parts of Kherson, including the city's central square. Later that evening, Kolykhaiev announced that he had surrendered the city to Russian forces, and that the Russian commander planned to set up a military administration in the city. Kherson became the first major Ukrainian city to fall to Russian forces in the invasion.
On 2 March, Kim announced that Ukrainian forces carried out strikes on Chornobaivka and in the Yelanets area, and that a Russian column left Snihurivka.
Russian troops attacked Mykolaiv on 4 March. Local officials stated that Russian forces had captured some of the outskirts of the city. Ukrainian forces repelled the attack, recapturing Mykolaiv International Airport.
On 8 March, the Ukrainian Air Force struck the military airbase at Kherson International Airport during the day, with Ukrainian officials claiming that more than 30 Russian helicopters were destroyed. Satellite imagery however showed that the number was fewer.
On 9 March, Russian troops entered the town of Skadovsk. According to local residents they entered at 08:45 and stationed themselves in the central square before being driven away by protesters. They then took over a building of the National Police of Ukraine in addition to vandalizing the city council building. The mayor Oleksandr Yakovlev stated that they took away computers from the city council building and had ordered that no political rallies be held.
The next day, the Ukrainian General Staff reported that Russia deployed a battalion of the Baltic Fleet's 336th Naval Infantry Brigade toward Mykolaiv. The Institute for the Study of War opined that "Russian forces are likely experiencing difficulty advancing northwest beyond the Inhul River." Heavy shelling hit Mykolaiv during the evening, causing several fires, and Vitaliy Kim reported "active hostilities" near north of the city.