Battle of Izium
Part of the eastern Ukraine campaign of the Russian invasion of Ukraine

Remains of an apartment complex where 54 people were killed by Russian shelling
Date3 March – 1 April 2022
(4 weeks and 1 day)
Location
Izium, Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine
Result Russian victory[1][2][3]
Belligerents
 Russia  Ukraine
Units involved

 Russian Armed Forces

 Ukrainian Armed Forces

Casualties and losses
19+ killed,[9]
46+ wounded[4]
1 captured
1 Su-35 lost[17]
1 Su-34 lost		 100+ soldiers and civilians killed[18]
50+ civilians killed[19][20]

The battle of Izium was a military engagement between Russia and Ukraine that occurred as part of the eastern Ukraine offensive during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The battle started in March 2022 for control of the town of Izium due to the town's importance as a transportation node.[11] The Russian military wanted to capture Izium so its forces in Kharkiv Oblast could link up with their troops in the Donbas region.[21]

On 10 September 2022, Ukrainian forces recaptured the town during the 2022 Kharkiv counteroffensive[22] and local mass graves with 440 bodies were found.[23] Izium's population decreased to just 10,000 due to the war.[24]

Battle

Street of Izium after shelling and bombardments, 6 March
City council after the battle
Remains of a residential building where 54 people were killed by a Russian airstrike in March[25]
Polovtsian stone sculptures of 9-13 centuries on Mount Kremenets in Izium after the battle. The statue in the right was completely destroyed; nearby monument to WWII heroes (in the background) is partially destroyed.

Russian attacks on Izium started taking place from 28 February 2022, with continued rocket strikes by the Russian military starting on 3 March. Eight civilians were killed on 3 March, with the town's central hospital reportedly sustaining significant damage.[26] The following day, Russian forces advanced towards Izium and reached its northern outskirts. By 6 March, the Russian military was in control of two of Izium's neighborhoods and its railway station.[27]

In the evening of 7 March, Russian online outlets reported that Izium had been taken by Russian forces, a claim that was not officially confirmed.[11] The next day, fighting erupted between Russian and Ukrainian forces for control of the town,[28] with Russian troops eventually being repelled.[29] Between 9 and 10 March, 2,250 civilians were evacuated from Izium,[26] while Russian forces continued to slowly advance towards the town.[30]

On 12 March, Russian troops captured the northern part of the town.[31] The following day, the Russian military made more advances,[32] but were ultimately repelled, according to the Ukrainian military.[33]

Sometime between 15 and 16 March, Russian troops seized the southern part of Izium, before Ukrainian forces managed to recapture their positions soon after.[8] On 17 March, a US DoD official reported Izium was once again captured by Russian forces,[34] but this was denied by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). The Russian military crossed the Donets river near the Barvinkivsky Highway, but were then halted by Ukrainian forces[15] after being ambushed.[8] Fighting continued the next day.[15]

Between 19 and 20 March, a new Russian attempt to capture the center of Izium was repelled.[35] During the fighting, Russian engineering troops attempted to make a pontoon bridge over the Donets river,[36] so to bypass two vehicle bridges that were partially destroyed by Ukrainian forces in an attempt to halt the Russian advance.[21] However, the engineering troops were ambushed and 19 Russian soldiers were killed and 46 wounded. Among the dead was the commander of the engineering unit, Colonel Nikolay Ovcharenko.[4][9] Eventually, Russian forces managed to erect two pontoon bridges and Russian tanks crossed the river to encircle the Ukrainian-held part of Izium.[21] During this time, on 22 March, Ukrainian forces made an attempted counterattack to regain control of the town.[37]

On 24 March, the Russian military announced that it had taken full control of Izium,[38][39] which was denied by Ukraine which stated that fighting was still ongoing.[40][41] According to a local official, Russian forces were holding the northern part of the town, while Ukrainian soldiers were in the south, with the Donets river separating them. He also confirmed that Izium was blockaded and that the city had been "completely destroyed" by this point.[18]

On 25 March, it was reported by a US DoD official and others that Russian forces broke through Ukrainian lines to the south of Izium,[42] reportedly advancing 10 kilometers.[43] However, the ISW cited the Ukrainian military that the Russian troops were repelled at the village of Kamyanka, just south of Izium. The ISW further stated that Russian forces were going to continue with their attempts to encircle the town, after failing to capture it in a direct assault.[44]

By 27 March, the Russian military captured Kamyanka and two other villages southwest and southeast of Izium, but Ukrainian forces claimed that they managed to subsequently recapture all three villages.[45] They also claimed to have shot down a Russian Sukhoi Su-34 fighter aircraft near Izium.[46] Two days later, it was confirmed Kamyanka was under Russian control, with Russian forces fortifying their positions around it, while the fighting moved south of Izium, along the road to Sloviansk.[47]

On 1 April, the Ukrainian military confirmed Izium was under Russian control.[1][2][3] The following day, in an interview for Ukrinform, Izium's Deputy Mayor Volodymyr Matsokin claimed that 80% of the city's residential buildings had been destroyed and that there was no power, heating, or water in the city.[27]

Aftermath and Ukrainian counterattacks

On 3 April, 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.[48][49]

On 4 April, The Guardian reported, based on eyewitness reports by residents and military officials, that intense fighting continued close to Izium.[50]

On 10 April, several US defense officials stated that Russian forces were massing in Izium in preparation for an offensive campaign between Izium and Dnipro.[51] Russian forces had been reportedly redeploying forces from the Kyiv axis and the Sumy axis to Izium from 5 April.[52]

On 18 April, Ukraine claimed the recapture of a "number of settlements" in or near the Izium area.[53] Russian forces in the city were beginning mass deportations of city residents towards the territory of the Russian Federation.[54]

Following the start of a new Russian offensive mid-April 2022, Russian troops had some success through localized advances south and southwest of Izium on 20 April.[55] As of 26 April, Russian forces continued to make slow progress south of Izium,[56] while the following day, the Russian military captured one town west of Izium, as well as the outskirts of another 20 kilometers west of the city.[57][58]

On 27 April 2022, Ukrainian publication Defense Express claimed that Valery Gerasimov the Chief of General Staff of the Russian Army arrived in Izium to personally command the Russian offensive in the region.[59] According to the Ukrainian Independent Information Agency, Gerasimov was wounded on 1 May 2022 near Izium.[60][61] Two US officials confirmed Gerasimov had been in the region but a Ukrainian official denied Ukraine was specifically targeting Gerasimov and said that when the command post was attacked, with 200 Russian soldiers being killed and, Gerasimov had already set off to return to Russia. 30 armored vehicles, including tanks, were also claimed to be destroyed.[62] Ukrainian officials claimed the attack killed Russian General Andrei Simonov.[63][64]

By 4 June, the Ukrainians claimed to have largely destroyed the 35th Combined Arms Army in heavy fighting south of Izium. According to CIT analyst Kyrylo Mykhailov, out of 1,500-2,000 infantrymen in its two brigades, only 100-200 were left. In the same report, however, he stated that the Russians had assembled 20 BTGs, of 400-600 troops each, south of the city for a possible offensive.[65][66] According to independent Russian sources, the entirety of the army had not yet been transferred from its headquarters in the Far East, and it represented an incomplete corps with just two full motorised brigades forming the main strike force. The soldiers were also “forced” to fight in the woods, a situation which was compared to the Battle of the Hürtgen Forest. Thus, according to the report, by early June the numbers of combat-ready infantry in certain motorised brigade battalions of the army successfully reached 12-15 people (64th brigade), the combined number of 38th and 64th motorised brigades – less than 100 of truly combat-ready infantry in each brigade.[67]

On 25 June, the Ukrainians claimed that they had carried out a strike using the HIMARS. Ukrainian military said that during this strike over 40 soldiers were killed, including Colonel Andrei Vasilyev. The strike occurred on a Russian military base near Izium. Russia acknowledges the attack but says it hit a hospital and killed two civilians.[68]

In July, several calls were intercepted by the Ukrainians between several Russian soldiers near Izium and their family members, to whom they described the combat conditions. One soldier claimed that out of 90 troops in his company, just 26 were left. Another claimed that his unit had suffered over 20 men killed and 100 wounded in one engagement, and just 20 remained. A third claimed that out of 107 men in his company, just 10 were still alive, and that four of the survivors had deserted. He also said that he was the only one left from his platoon of 22 men.[69][70][71]

On 12 August, citing a report from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the Institute for the Study of War concluded that the 64th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade had likely been destroyed as "part of an intentional Kremlin effort to conceal war crimes it committed in Kyiv Oblast." The report went further stating that of the 1,500 members of the brigade, losses were placed at 200-300 likely killed during fighting at Izium and Sloviansk, and that the unit "largely ceased to exist."[72]

Exhumation of the bodies from the mass graves

Ukraine began a counteroffensive in the Kharkiv region in early September 2022. On 9 September, the suburbs of Oskil and Kapytolivka were recaptured by the Ukrainian military. By the morning of September 10, Russian forces, leaving their equipment, had withdrawn from the city which was now again under control of Ukrainian forces.[73]

Civilian casualties

Mass graves with more than 440 bodies were found after the Russians were driven out of the town.[23]

In late November, a phone call from a Russian soldier in the 27th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade discussing killing of Izium's citizens during the September retreat was leaked. The soldier detailed a secondhand account of where his commanding officer Colonel Sergey Igorevich Safonov and another officer had stabbed an elderly Ukrainian woman and shot her husband respectively, killing both.[74][6]

References

  1. 1 2 "RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE CAMPAIGN ASSESSMENT, APRIL 1". Institute for the Study of War.
  2. 1 2 Свобода, Радіо (April 2022). "На Київщині ЗСУ звільнили 15 населених пунктів – зведення Генерального штабу". Радіо Свобода.
  3. 1 2 "The russians are controlling Izyum – General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces".
  4. 1 2 3 report, Ground (23 March 2022). "Who was Russian Colonel Nikolay Ovcharenko Killed in Ukraine?". Ground Report.
  5. ↑ "RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE CAMPAIGN ASSESSMENT, MARCH 24". Institute for the Study of War.
  6. 1 2 Krutov, Mark; Dobrynin, Sergei; Egoshina, Valeria (30 November 2022). "Нехороший человек". Российский полковник и убийство мирных жителей ["Bad person". Russian colonel and the killing of civilians]. Радио Свобода (in Ukrainian). Svoboda. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
  7. ↑ "'Are There Even Any Left?' 100 Days of War in Ukraine for an Elite Russian Unit". 3 June 2022.
  8. 1 2 3 "Ukraine resists Russia's invasion. Day 23: Russian troops not able to advance, more terror against civilians, Russia to brandish nuclear weapons". 18 March 2022.
  9. 1 2 3 Dresch, Matthew (23 March 2022). "Vladimir Putin loses 15th top commander in Ukraine near city besieged by Russia". mirror.
  10. ↑ "Slovenia Sending Tanks to Ukraine, Ukrainian Tank Brigades on the Roll". 23 April 2022.
  11. 1 2 3 "Изюм взят: что даёт России контроль над этим важным украинским городом". topcor.ru (in Russian). 7 March 2022. Archived from the original on 8 March 2022. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
  12. ↑ "Exhausted Ukrainian soldiers return from eastern front". France 24. 1 May 2022.
  13. ↑ https://tsn.ua/ato/u-boyah-z-okupantami-zaginuv-komandir-batalyonu-karpatska-sich-2090623.html
  14. ↑ "Ukraine downs Russian chopper with Polish weapons: Report - English Section - polskieradio.pl".
  15. 1 2 3 "RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE CAMPAIGN ASSESSMENT, MARCH 18". Institute for the Study of War. 18 March 2022. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  16. ↑ Alexander Query; Francis Farrell (25 November 2022). "Meet the Chechens fighting Russia in Ukraine". Kyivindependent. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
  17. ↑ "First Russian Su-35S Flanker-E Confirmed Destroyed in Ukraine". 3 April 2022.
  18. 1 2 "Russia and Ukraine battle for control of eastern city already "completely destroyed" in fighting". CNN. 24 March 2022.
  19. ↑ "Ukraine war: Bodies of 44 civilians found as battle for Izyum rages". BBC News. 10 May 2022.
  20. ↑ "Ukrainian family killed in Russian attack, despite denials". Associated Press. 27 September 2022.
  21. 1 2 3 "FIRST ON CNN: Major infrastructure in central Izyum is destroyed, new satellite images show". CNN. 25 March 2022.
  22. ↑ Santora, Marc; Lukinova, Anna (10 September 2022). "Ukrainian Forces Take Key City, Igniting New Phase in War". The New York Times.
  23. 1 2 "Mass grave of more than 440 bodies found in Izium, Ukraine -police". Reuters. 15 September 2022.
  24. ↑ Orlova, Alisa (13 September 2022). "Over 1,000 Civilians Killed During Russian Occupation of Izyum - Kyiv Post - Ukraine's Global Voice". Kyiv Post. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
  25. ↑ "Омбудсмен показал многоэтажку в Изюме, где в результате авиаудара погибли 54 мирных жителя" (in Russian). Interfax. 17 September 2022.
  26. 1 2 "Ukraine: Beleaguered town of Izium at breaking point after constant attack from Russian forces - new testimony". Amnesty International. 16 March 2022.
  27. 1 2 "Izyum city government: Izyum 80% destroyed". Ukrayinska Pravda. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
  28. ↑ desk, The Kyiv Independent news (8 March 2022). "Russian troops destroy central hospital in Izyum, Kharkiv Oblast".
  29. ↑ "Russia to open Ukraine 'humanitarian routes', but fears persist". Agence France-Presse. 8 March 2022. Archived from the original on 8 March 2022. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  30. ↑ Marsi, David Child,Mersiha Gadzo,Jihan Abdalla,Federica (9 March 2022). "Latest Ukraine updates: Strike hits Mariupol hospital complex". www.aljazeera.com.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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  34. ↑ BBC News (17 March 2022). "Pentagon says Russian advance is frozen". BBC News. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  35. ↑ "RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE CAMPAIGN ASSESSMENT, MARCH 20".
  36. ↑ "На Харьковщине российский полковник погиб при переправе через Северский Донец — ОстроВ". www.ostro.org.
  37. ↑ "Signs of Ukrainian forces 'going after' Russians: Pentagon". Al Arabiya English. 22 March 2022.
  38. ↑ "Russian troops taken full control of Ukrainian city of Izyum". Apa.az.
  39. ↑ "Ukraine war news from March 24: Biden warns on chemical weapons, G7 cracks down on Russia's ability to sell gold". Financial Times. 23 March 2022.
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  41. ↑ Breslin, Maureen (25 March 2022). "Russia says it has gained control of Ukrainian city Izyum".
  42. ↑ "Latest US intelligence assessment". BBC News.
  43. ↑ "Ukraine Update: Ukraine wins some, loses some, as France, Greece and Turkey plan Mariupol rescue". Daily Kos.
  44. ↑ "RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE CAMPAIGN ASSESSMENT, MARCH 25". Institute for the Study of War. 26 March 2022.
  45. ↑ "Sources: Most intense combat in Ukraine war shifting east". KyivPost. 28 March 2022.
  46. ↑ "Ukrainian troops shoot down Russian Su-34 aircraft near Izium". www.ukrinform.net. 27 March 2022.
  47. ↑ "RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE CAMPAIGN ASSESSMENT, MARCH 29".
  48. ↑ "Two Russian soldiers killed, 28 in hospital after being poisoned by Ukrainian civilians: Officials". 3 April 2022.
  49. ↑ Cook, Pip (4 April 2022). "Putin's army mocked after Ukrainian pie poisoning of Russian soldiers". Express. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
  50. ↑ No safe way out of Izyum: ‘I can’t imagine how it will end’, The Guardian (4 April 2022)
  51. ↑ Engelbrecht, Cora; Zucchino, David; Arraf, Jane (10 April 2022). "What Happened on Day 46 of the War in Ukraine". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
  52. ↑ "Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, April 6". Critical Threats. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
  53. ↑ "Ukrainian Armed Forces liberated several settlements around Izium". www.ukrinform.net. 18 April 2022. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
  54. ↑ "Russia will deport Ukrainians from Izium to Russia". Ukrayinska Pravda. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
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  57. ↑ Sangal, Aditi; Chowdhury, Maureen; Yeung, Jessie; O'Murchú, Seán Federico; Morse, Ben; Ravindran, Jeevan; Upright, Ed (27 April 2022). "Ukraine acknowledges losing towns in the east as Russia steps up offensive". CNN.
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  59. ↑ Gerasimova, Tanya (28 April 2022). "Russian Chief of General Staff Gerasimov Arrives in Kharkiv Region to Personally Command Offensive". Ukrainian News. Archived from the original on 29 April 2022. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
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  61. ↑ "З'явилися суперечливі дані про поранення начальника Генштабу РФ Герасимова".
  62. ↑ Weber, Peter. "Ukraine says it destroyed Russia's Izyum command center, killing 200 but just missing Russia's top general". The Week. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
  63. ↑ "Tenth Russian General Reportedly Killed in Ukraine". Kyiv Post. 1 May 2022. Retrieved 1 May 2022.
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  65. ↑ "Military expert talks about heavy losses taken by Russia's 35th Combined Arms Army". 8 June 2022.
  66. ↑ "A whole Russian army has been destroyed at Izyum, Ukraine official reveals". 4 June 2022.
  67. ↑ Russian 35th combined-arms army (Izyum) is destroyed by its own command
  68. ↑ "Ukraine 'strikes Russian command post in Donbas using HIMARS' - video". msn.com.
  69. ↑ Intercepted Call: “Even at night I’m dreaming of these… corpses”
  70. ↑ Intercepted Call: “We cannot take one village”
  71. ↑ Intercepted Call: “From the 1st platoon, I’m alone left”.
  72. ↑ Russian Units Linked to Bucha War Crimes Likely 'Destroyed in Combat'
  73. ↑ Hunder, Max; Hnydii, Vitalii (10 September 2022). "Russia loses control of key northeast towns as Ukrainian troops advance". Reuters. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
  74. ↑ Trad, Ruslan (2 December 2022). "New reports of Russian forces killing Ukrainian civilians". Atlantic Council. Retrieved 8 December 2022.

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