XXXX Panzer Corps was a tank corps in the German Army during World War II .
108-626: The XXXX. Armeekorps was formed on 26 January 1940 in Lubeck in the Wehrkreis X. It took part in the invasions of France and Greece before being sent to the Eastern Front. On 15 September 1940 it was converted into a motorized corps under the name XXXX. Armeekorps (motorisiert) and was renamed XXXX. Panzerkorps on 9 July 1942. The XXXX Panzer Corps fought at Kharkov , the advance to the Don River , and to
216-419: A National Guard base. According to SBU investigator Vasyliy Vovk, Russian covert forces were behind the attacks, and had intended to destabilise the otherwise calm city of Kharkiv. On 8 January 2015 five men wearing balaclavas broke into an office of Station Kharkiv, a volunteer group aiding refugees from Donbas . On 22 February an improvised explosive device killed four people and wounded nine during
324-520: A Russian flag on the Kharkiv Regional State Administration Building. On 6 April 2014 pro-Russian protestors occupied the building and unilaterally declared independence from Ukraine as the " Kharkiv People's Republic ". Doubts arose about their local origin as they had initially targeted the city's Opera and Ballet Theatre before recognising their mistake. Kharkiv's mayor, Hennadiy "Gepa" Kernes , elected in 2010 as
432-522: A Russian voivode from Chuhuiv 40 kilometres (25 mi) to the east. The first appointed voivode from Moscow was Voyin Selifontov in 1656, who began to build a local ostrog (fort). In 1658, a new voivode, Ivan Ofrosimov, commanded the locals to kiss the cross in a demonstration of loyalty to Tsar Alexis . Led by their otaman Ivan Kryvoshlyk, they refused. However, with the election of a new otaman, Tymish Lavrynov, relations appear to have been repaired,
540-1011: A four-month period on the territory of the Russian Federation ". Prime Minister of the DPR Alexander Zakharchenko said in August 2014 that it had not received military equipment from Russia; and that all of its military equipment was "hardware that we took from the Ukrainian military". Some injured militia members received medical care in Russia. In mid-August 2014, hospitals such as the Donetsk Central Hospital in Donetsk, Russia tended to receive between ten and twenty injured fighters daily. The Russian Emergency Ministry assisted with treatment logistics. Those questioned and registered by
648-471: A further 30,000 residents, among them suspected Soviet partisans and, after a brief period of toleration, Ukrainian nationalists. 80,000 people died of hunger, cold and disease. 60,000 were forcibly transported to Germany as slave workers ( Ostarbeiter ). Among these was Boris Romanchenko . The 96-year-old survivor of forced labor at the Buchenwald , Peenemünde , Dora and Bergen Belsen concentration camps
756-577: A major centre of industry, trade, and of Ukrainian culture in Sloboda Ukraine. At the beginning of the 20th century the city had a predominantly Russian population, but as industrial expansion drew in further labor from the distressed countryside, and as the Soviet Union moderated previous restrictions on Ukrainian cultural expression, by the eve of World War II Ukrainians had become its largest ethnic group. From December 1919 to January 1934, Kharkiv
864-475: A march commemorating the Euromaidan victims . The authorities launched an 'anti-terrorist operation'. Further bombings targeted army fuel tanks, an unoccupied passenger train and a Ukrainian flag in the city centre. On 23 September 2015, 200 people in balaclavas and camouflage picketed the house of former governor Mykhailo Dobkin , and then went to Kharkiv town hall, where they tried to force their way through
972-473: A militia checkpoint at the entrance to the city of Sloviansk. Three attackers and three members of the militia were killed. On May 14, eight members of the militia seized an IMR armored vehicle from Novokramatorsky Mashinostroitelny Zavod . On May 15, the Donbas People's Militia sent an ultimatum to Kyiv. They demanded the withdrawal of all Ukrainian troops from Donetsk oblast . On May 17, several members of
1080-868: A mining engineer and served as a party functionary in Kharkiv. He led the Communists to victory in Kharkiv and across the country in the parliamentary election held in the Ukrainian SSR in March 1990. The election was relatively free, but occurred well before organised political parties had time to form, and did not arrest the decline in the CPSU's legitimacy. This was accelerated by the intra-party coup attempt against President Mikhail Gorbachev and his reforms on 18 August 1991, during which Ivashko temporarily replaced Gorbachev as CPSU General Secretary. The National University of Kharkiv
1188-549: A mixture of three strands of Russian nationalism : Fascist , Orthodox and Soviet . Members and former members of neo-Nazi group Russian National Unity (RNU), as well as the National Bolshevik Party and the Eurasian Youth Union , formed branches to recruit volunteers for the pro-Russia separatists. A former RNU member, Pavel Gubarev , was founder of the Donbas People's Militia and first "governor" of
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#17328514533451296-399: A pro-Ukrainian rally in the central square. Polls conducted from September to December 2014 found little support in Kharkiv for joining Russia. From early November until mid-December, Kharkiv was struck by seven non-lethal bomb blasts. Targets of these attacks included a rock pub known for raising money for Ukrainian forces, a hospital for Ukrainian forces, a military recruiting centre, and
1404-770: A resolution of the Verkhovna Rada of the Ukrainian SSR promising further democratic reform. In the event, the only demand fulfilled was the removal of the Communist Prime Minister. In the 1 December 1991 Referendum on the Act of Declaration of Independence , on a turnout of 76 percent 86 percent of the Kharkiv Oblast approved separate Ukrainian statehood. During the 1990s post-Soviet aliyah , many Jews from Kharkiv emigrated to Israel or to Western countries. The city's Jewish population, 62,800 in 1970, dropped to 50,000 by
1512-747: Is a higher level institution in the ideological training of cadets. People from both the DPR and LPR can enroll at the school. It prepares future command cadres in four areas: reconnaissance, tank forces, infantry, and political officers. Upon graduation, the cadets are commissioned as lieutenants. Since the fall of 2016, the Military Lyceum is affiliated to the DHCACS. The Georgy Beregovoy Military-Physical Training Lyceum ( Russian : Лицей с усиленной военно-физической подготовкой имени дважды Героя Советского Союза, летчика-космонавта СССР, генерал-лейтенанта Г.Т.Берегового )
1620-787: Is an educational facility of the People's Militia, being akin to the Suvorov Military School or the Ivan Bohun Military High School . It was established on 15 May 1993 by decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine as the Donetsk Higher Military-Political School of Engineering and Signal Corps. From 1993 to 2000, the Lyceum was with a three-year form of study. Over two decades, 2,793 graduates graduated from
1728-562: Is the second-largest city in Ukraine . Located in the northeast of the country, it is the largest city of the historic region of Sloboda Ukraine . Kharkiv is the administrative centre of Kharkiv Oblast and Kharkiv Raion . It had a population, before the Russian invasion, of 1,421,125 (2022 estimate). Kharkiv was founded in 1654 as a fortress, and within the Russian Empire grew to become
1836-497: The 1937–38 Stalinist purges . During World War II , Kharkiv was the focus of major battles. The city was captured by Nazi Germany on 24 October 1941. A disastrous Red Army offensive failed to recover the city in May 1942. It was retaken ( Operation Star ) on 16 February 1943, but lost again to the Germans on 15 March 1943. 23 August 1943 saw a final liberation . On the eve of
1944-764: The 8th Combined Arms Army , which has been recreated for this specific task since 2017. In February 2022, the UK defence ministry and the Institute for the Study of War reported that the Russian Armed Forces had officially extended the Russian Southern Military District into parts of Ukraine as part of integrating the DPR and LPR people's militias into Russian forces. In April 2023, Russia granted combat veteran status to separatist militants who had fought in
2052-705: The Azov Battalion ". Far-right nationalists from other countries have also fought for the Russian separatists, such as the Hungarian nationalist 'Legion of Saint Stephen', the Bulgarian nationalist 'Orthodox Dawn' and the Serbian Chetnik 'Jovan Šević Detachment', as well as members of Serbian Action . According to the Italian newspaper la Repubblica , well-known Italian neo-fascist Andrea Palmeri (former member of
2160-721: The Constituent Assembly after its first sitting, the Tsentralna Rada in Kyiv proclaimed the independence of the Ukrainian People's Republic (UPR). Bolsheviks withdrew from Tsentralna Rada and formed their own Rada (national council) in Kharkiv. By February 1918 their forces had captured much of Ukraine . They made Kharkiv the capital of the Donetsk-Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic . Six weeks later, under
2268-480: The Crimean War , in 1860–61, a hromada was established in the city, one of a network of secret societies that laid the groundwork for the appearance of a Ukrainian national movement. Its most prominent member was the philosopher, linguist and pan-slavist activist Oleksandr Potebnia . Members of a student hromada in the city included the future national leaders Borys Martos and Dmytro Antonovych , and reputedly were
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#17328514533452376-528: The Khmelnytsky uprising against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth saw the brief establishment of an independent Cossack Hetmanate . In 1654 in the midst of this period of turmoil for Right-bank Ukraine , groups of people came onto the banks of Lopan and Kharkiv rivers where they resurrected and fortified an abandoned settlement. There is a folk etymology that connects the name of both
2484-863: The Mariupol rocket attacks , which they have denied. The militias were also responsible for illegal abductions, detention, and torture of civilians of the Donbas. The separatist paramilitaries were supported by, and were proxies of, the Russian Armed Forces. Ukraine, the United States, and some analysts deemed them to be under the command of Russia's 8th Combined Arms Army . Although the Russian government often denied direct involvement, evidence suggested otherwise. The separatists admitted receiving weaponry and supplies from Russia, being trained there, and having thousands of Russian citizens in their ranks. By September 2015,
2592-840: The Russian Constituent Assembly election held in November 1917, the Bolsheviks who had seized power in Petrograd and Moscow received just 10.5 percent of the vote in the Governorate , compared to 73 percent for a bloc of Russian and Ukrainian Socialist Revolutionaries. Commanding worker, rather than peasant, votes, within the city itself the Bolsheviks won a plurality. When in Petrograd Lenin's Council of People's Commissars disbanded
2700-594: The Russian Ground Forces , part of a long-term effort to integrate various irregular forces. On February 19, the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Militias were formally integrated into the command structure of the Russian Armed Forces. The militias consist of different armed groups, sworn to the Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic . Militant groups which refused to do so were disarmed as gangs in
2808-1068: The Russia–Ukraine border . The city remains under intermittent Russian fire , with reports that almost a quarter of the city was destroyed by April 2024. De-jure: [REDACTED] [REDACTED] RT / RI 1654–1789 De-facto: [REDACTED] Kharkiv Regiment 1654–1789 [REDACTED] Russian Empire 1789–1917 [REDACTED] Russian Provisional Government Mar–Nov 1917 [REDACTED] UPR Nov-–Dec 1917 [REDACTED] UPRS Dec 1917 – Apr 1918 [REDACTED] Ukrainian People's Republic / Ukrainian State Apr 1918 – Jan 1919 [REDACTED] PWPGU / [REDACTED] UkSSR 1919 Jan–Jun [REDACTED] ARSR 1919 Jun–Dec [REDACTED] UkSSR Dec 1919 – Dec 1922 [REDACTED] USSR 1922–1941 [REDACTED] Third Reich 1941–1943 [REDACTED] USSR Feb–Mar 1943 [REDACTED] Third Reich Mar–Sep 1943 [REDACTED] USSR 1943–1991 [REDACTED] Ukraine 1991–present The earliest historical references to
2916-766: The Terek in the Caucasus . The corps later withdrew toward Rostov and later into Romania . The corps was transferred to East Prussia and withdrew toward Memel and ended the war in central Silesia . This article about a specific German military unit is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Kharkov Kharkiv ( / ˈ k ɑːr k ɪ v / KAR -kiv ; Ukrainian: Харків , IPA: [ˈxɑrkiu̯] ), also known as Kharkov ( UK : / ˈ k ɑːr k ɒ v / KAR -kov , US : / ˈ k ɑːr k ɔː f / KAR -kawf ; Russian: Харькoв , IPA: [ˈxarʲkəf] ),
3024-459: The Ukrainian crisis . However, they were also seen with weapons that were not known to have been exported to Ukraine, or otherwise be available there, including some of the latest models of Russian military equipment, never exported outside Russia. According to the Donetsk People's Republic , all of its military equipment is "hardware that we took from the Ukrainian military". However, according to
3132-529: The Ukrainian language , mandating it for all schools. In practice the share of secondary schools teaching in the Ukrainian language remained lower than the ethnic Ukrainian share of the Kharkiv Oblast 's population. The Ukrainization policy was reversed, with the prosecution in Kharkiv in 1930 of the Union for the Freedom of Ukraine . Hundreds of Ukrainian intellectuals were arrested and deported. In 1932 and 1933,
3240-660: The Urals with all their equipment, and became the heart of Red Army 's tank programs (particularly, producing the T-34 tank earlier designed in Kharkiv). These enterprises returned to Kharkiv after the war, and became central elements of the post-war Soviet military industrial complex . Houses and factories were rebuilt, and much of the city's center was reconstructed in the style of Stalinist Classicism . Kharkiv's Jewish community revived after World War II: by 1959 there were 84,000 Jews living in
3348-594: The " cannon fodder " of the Russian forces; by November 2022 the casualty rate of the separatist units was almost 50%, according to official separatist sources. On 3 March 2014, during the 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine , groups of protesters took control of the regional administration building in Donetsk . An armed opposition group named the Donbas People's Militia, led by Pavel Gubarev , participated. This happened when 11 Ukrainian cities with significant populations of ethnic Russians erupted in demonstrations against
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3456-598: The (Russian) Federal Security Service and treated in Russia during this period stated that they would not return to Ukraine if the Ukrainian army won the Russo-Ukrainian War , but would, instead, engage in a partisan warfare campaign in Eastern Ukraine . According to various sources, the troops of the separatists forces are under direct control of officers of the Russian Armed Forces . Specifically
3564-576: The 12th century, the area was part of the territory of the Cumans , and then from the mid 13th century of the Mongol / Tartar Golden Horde . By the early 17th century the area was a contested frontier region with renegade populations that had begun to organise in Cossack formations and communities defined by a common determination to resist both Tatar slavery, and Polish-Lithuanian and Russian serfdom . Mid-century,
3672-666: The 1st Corps, called the "People's Militia of the DNR" and the 2nd Corps, called "People's Militia of the LNR". On 28 December 2018 commander of the Ukrainian Navy Ihor Voronchenko claimed that the DPR had created a flotilla stationed at Novoazovsk , made up of about 25 converted fishing boats. According to Voronchenko, the DPR had named this flotilla the "9th Regiment of the Marine Corps". [REDACTED] People's Militia of
3780-483: The DNR and LNR People's Militias became the 1st Army Corps and 2nd Army Corps of the United Armed Forces of Novorossiya ( Russian : Объединённые Вооруженные Силы Новороссии ; acronym NAF), which was to be the army of the proposed Novorossiya (New Russia) political union. Lieutenant General Ivan Korsun became its commander-in-chief . The Novorossiya project was suspended in May 2015 due to infighting, but
3888-672: The DPR. Other groups are autonomous forces. According to Ukrainskyi Tyzhden , a Donetsk Operative Command set up in May 2016 by Russia coordinates the military efforts of the Donetsk People's Republic. The tank battalions they claim Russia can deploy include the DPR Diesel Battalion, and LPR August Battalion. Euromaidan Press reported in September 2018 that the United Armed Forces of Novorossiya comprised two army corps :
3996-420: The Donbas People's Militia seized government buildings in Kramatorsk and Sloviansk , and set up checkpoints and barricades. The same day, former members of the Donetsk " Berkut " unit joined the ranks of the Donbas People's Militia. On 13 April, the newly established Ukrainian government gave the separatists a deadline to disarm or face a "full-scale anti-terrorist campaign" in the region. Later that day,
4104-475: The Donbas war since 2014. A 2016 report by the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI) noted that Russian ethnic and imperialist nationalism has shaped the official ideology of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics. During the war in Donbas , especially at the beginning, far-right groups played an important role on the pro-Russian side, arguably more so than on the Ukrainian side. According to Marlène Laruelle , separatists in Donbas espoused
4212-409: The Donbas, leading the Ukrainian military to launch its Anti-Terrorist Operation against them. During the Donbas war, Russian far-right groups were heavily involved in recruiting for the separatists, and many far-right activists joined them and formed volunteer units. The Russian separatists have been held responsible for war crimes , among them the shootdown of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 and
4320-401: The Donetsk People's Republic ( Russian : Народная милиция Донецкой Народной Республики , lit. 'People's Militia of the Donetsk People's Republic'), or 1st Army Corps (DPR) – Formed on 14 November 2014. [REDACTED] People's Militia of the Luhansk People's Republic ( Russian : Народная милиция Луганской Народной Республики , lit. 'People's Militia of
4428-435: The Donetsk People's Republic. RNU is particularly linked to the Russian Orthodox Army , one of a number of separatist units described as "pro-Tsarist" and "extremist Orthodox" nationalists. In June 2014, the Russian Orthodox Army was accused of murdering four Pentecostals in Sloviansk . The men were accused of spying for the Ukrainian government, but the case has been cited as part of a policy of religious persecution by
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4536-426: The Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republic started a process of mass mobilization of its population in order to build an army for the Russian invasion. As there weren't enough volunteers in the separatist army, and the Russian government wasn't willing to start mobilization of its own population, men from ages 18 until 65 from any background were conscripted to form the separatist army. Groups of DPR/LPR officers roamed
4644-436: The Euromaidan events and Russian actions in the Crimea and Donbas ruptured relations with Moscow, the Kharkiv region experienced a sharp fall in output and employment. Once a hub of cross border trade, Kharkiv was turned into a border fortress. A reorientation to new international markets, increased defense contracts (after Kyiv, the region contains the second-largest number of military-related enterprises) and export growth in
4752-399: The Federal State of Novorossiya announced the termination of the confederation 'project' but the United Armed Forces was retained as the joint armed service of the DPR and LPR. The Ukrainian government in mid-2015 claimed there were about 42,500 fighters on the separatists' side, which include 9,000 Russian soldiers. During the prelude to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine ,
4860-439: The Intercession Cathedral and Monastery, which became a seat of a local church hierarch, the Protopope . Administrative reforms led to Kharkiv being governed from 1708 from Kyiv , and from 1727 from Belgorod. In 1765 Kharkiv was established as the seat of a separate Sloboda Ukraine Governorate . Kharkiv University was established in 1805 in the Palace of Governorate-General . Alexander Mikolajewicz Mickiewicz, brother of
4968-399: The Luhansk People's Republic'), or 2nd Lugansk-Severodonetsk Guards Army Corps (LPR) – Formed on 7 October 2014. Donetsk People's Republic Luhansk People's Republic [REDACTED] Donetsk People's Republic [REDACTED] Luhansk People's Republic According to Armament Research Services (ARES), the rebels mostly used equipment that was available domestically before
5076-415: The Polish national poet Adam Mickiewicz , was a professor of law in the university, while another celebrity, Goethe , searched for instructors for the school. One of its later graduates was In Ivan Franko , to whom it awarded a doctorate in Russian linguistics in 1906. The streets were first cobbled in the city centre in 1830. In 1844 the 90 metres (300 ft) tall Alexander Bell Tower, commemorating
5184-424: The RUP in Kharkiv, Poltava , Kyiv , Nizhyn , Lubny , and Yekaterinodar repudiated the more extreme elements of Ukrainian nationalism. Adopting the Erfurt Program of German Social Democracy , they restyled themselves the Ukrainian Social Democratic Labour Party (USDLP). This was to remain independent of, and opposed by, the Bolshevik faction of the Russian SDLP . After the February Revolution of 1917,
5292-405: The Russian share of the population had fallen from almost two-thirds to one third, while the Ukrainian share rose from a quarter to almost half. The Jewish population rose from under 6 percent of the total, to over 15 percent (sustaining a Hebrew secondary school, a popular Jewish university and extensive publication in Yiddish and Hebrew). In the 1920s, the Ukrainian SSR promoted the use of
5400-407: The Soviet Union as fabrications . In 1934 hundreds of Ukrainian writers, intellectuals and cultural workers were arrested and executed in the attempt to eradicate all vestiges of Ukrainian nationalism. The purges continued into 1938. Blind Ukrainian street musicians Kobzars were also rounded up in Kharkiv and murdered by the NKVD. Confident in his control over Ukraine, in January 1934 Stalin had
5508-414: The Tsar in Moscow granting the community's request (signed by the deans of the new Assumption Cathedral and parish churches of Annunciation and Trinity) to establish a local market. At that time the population of Kharkiv was just over 1000, half of whom were local Cossacks. Selifontov had brought with him a Moscow garrison of only 70 soldiers. Defence rested with a local Sloboda Cossack regiment under
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#17328514533455616-522: The USDLP was the main party in the first Ukrainian government, the General Secretariat of Ukraine . The Tsentralna Rada (central council) of Ukrainian parties in Kyiv authorised the Secretariat to negotiate national autonomy with the Russian Provisional Government . In the succeeding months, as wartime conditions deteriorated, the USDLP lost support in Kharkiv and elsewhere to the Ukrainian Socialist Revolutionary Party (SR) which organised both in peasant communities and in disaffected military units. In
5724-437: The Ukraine", and the Malyshev Factory , an enlargement of the old Kharkiv Locomotive Factory, which at its height employed 60,000 workers in the production of heavy equipment. By 1937 the output of Kharkiv's industries was reported as being 35 times greater than in 1913. Since the turn of the century, the influx of new workers from the countryside changed the ethnic composition of Kharkiv. According to census returns, by 1939
5832-428: The Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox church, the Church of the Myrrhophores, Saint Demetrius's Church, and the Cossack fortified Church of the Nativity. Under Stalin 's First Five Year Plan , the city underwent intensified industrialisation, led by a number of national projects. Chief among these were the Kharkiv Tractor Factory (HTZ) , described by Stalin as "a steel bastion of the collectivisation of agriculture in
5940-416: The Ukrainian Polytechnic Institute of Distance Learning (UZPI), the Kharkiv City Council building, with its massive asymmetric tower, and the central department store that was opened on the 15th Anniversary of the October Revolution . As new buildings were going up, many of city's historic architectural monuments were being torn down. These included most of the baroque churches: Saint Nicholas's Cathedral of
6048-535: The Ukrainian government and the United States Department of State the Donbas People's Militia has received military equipment from Russia, including Russian tanks and multiple rocket launchers. Russia denied supplying weapons and described the Russian citizens fighting with the Donbas People's Militia as volunteers. The Donetsk People's Republic claimed on 16 August 2014 that it had received (together with 30 tanks and 120 other armoured vehicles of undisclosed origin) 1,200 "individuals who have gone through training over
6156-401: The Ukrainian government and the United States Department of State , this is a false. They claim the separatists have received military equipment from Russia , including multiple rocket launch systems and tanks. Although Russian officials deny supplying arms to the militia. In August 2014 Ukrainian Defense Minister Valeriy Heletey said the proof for the weapons supply from Russia was that
6264-691: The acting commander of the Ukrainian Internal Forces . On 13 April, some pro-Russian protesters again made it inside the Kharkiv regional state administration building, but were quickly evicted. Violent clashes resulted in the severe beating of at least 50 pro-Ukrainian protesters in attacks by pro-Russian protesters. On 28 April, Kernes was shot by a sniper, a victim, commentators suggested, of his former pro-Russian allies. Relatively peaceful demonstrations continued to be held, with "pro-Russian" rallies gradually diminishing and "pro-Ukrainian unity" demonstrations growing in numbers. On 28 September, activists dismantled Ukraine's largest monument to Lenin at
6372-499: The areas seized by the militia. On 16 April, the militia entered Sloviansk with six BMD airborne amphibious tracked infantry fighting vehicles they had obtained from elements of the 25th Airborne Brigade who had switched allegiance. A Ukrainian military column was disarmed after the vehicles were blockaded by locals in Kramatorsk. The militia also received a 2S9 "Nona-S" self-propelled 120 mm mortar. On April 20, an unidentified armed group in civilian clothes attacked
6480-456: The banned Russian neo-nazi group Slavic Union and the Movement Against Illegal Immigration . Another Russian separatist paramilitary unit, the Interbrigades , is made up of activists from the National Bolshevik (Nazbol) group Other Russia . An article in Dissent noted that "despite their neo-Stalinist paraphernalia, many of the Russian-speaking nationalists Russia supports in the Donbass are just as right-wing as their counterparts from
6588-414: The capital of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic and, in 1922, this was formally incorporated as a constituent republic of the Soviet Union . A number of prestige construction projects in new officially-approved Constructivist style were completed, among them Derzhprom (Palace of Industry) then the tallest building in the Soviet Union (and the second tallest in Europe), the Red Army Building,
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#17328514533456696-432: The capital of the Ukrainian SSR moved from Kharkiv to Kyiv. During April and May 1940 about 3,900 Polish prisoners of Starobilsk camp were executed in the Kharkiv NKVD building, later secretly buried on the grounds of an NKVD pansionat in Piatykhatky forest (part of the Katyn massacre ) on the outskirts of Kharkiv. The site also contains the numerous bodies of Ukrainian cultural workers who were arrested and shot in
6804-436: The city of "material and spiritual relics" from the pre-revolutionary era, and its commitment to the new frontiers of Soviet industry and science. The city's machine-and-weapons building prowess was attributed to a forward-looking collaboration between its large-scale industrial enterprises and new research institutes and laboratories. The last Communist Party chief of Ukraine , Vladimir Ivashko , appointed in 1989, trained as
6912-445: The city, including the Morozov Design Bureau , the Malyshev Factory , Khartron , Turboatom , and Antonov . In March and April 2014 security forces and counter-demonstrators defeated efforts by Russian-backed separatists to seize control of the city and regional administration. Kharkiv was a major target for Russian forces in the eastern Ukraine campaign during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine before they were pushed back to
7020-402: The city. However, Soviet anti-Zionism restricted expressions of Jewish religion and culture, and was sustained until the final Gorbachev years (the confiscated Kharkiv Choral Synagogue reopened as a synagogue in 1990). In the Brezhnev-era , Kharkiv was promoted as a "model Soviet city". Propaganda made much of its "youthfulness", a designation broadly used to suggest the relative absence in
7128-451: The combination of grain seizures and the forced collectivisation of peasant holdings created famine conditions, the Holodomor , driving people off the land and into Kharkiv, and other cities, in search of food. Eye-witness accounts by westerners—among them those of American Communist Fred Beal employed in the Kharkiv Tractor Factory —were cited in the international press but, until the era of Glasnost were consistently denounced in
7236-429: The country, toppling Ukrainian authorities, disrupting the elections, and tearing our country apart". Kernes persuaded the police to storm the regional administration building and push out the separatists. He was allowed to return to his mayoral duties. Police action against the separatists was reinforced by a special forces unit from Vinnytsia directed by Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov and Stepan Poltorak
7344-481: The downing of a civilian airliner, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 , on 17 July 2014. On August 8, the militia claimed that after battles near the Russian border, they had captured 67 pieces of equipment in varying conditions (serviceable equipment lacking ammunition or fuel, with faults, damaged in battle and completely unusable), including 18 "Grad" multiple rocket launching systems, 15 tanks and armored personnel carriers , howitzers , MANPADS , etc. As of August 12,
7452-420: The early Cold War -era T-62 tanks. By November, the DPR ombudsman reported that the DPR militia suffered almost 20,000 casualties (both wounded in action and killed in action ), translating into a staggering 50% casualty rate, with outside observers believing it could possibly be higher. The mass conscription has been considered a war crime by some, as the Article 51 of the Fourth Geneva Convention bans
7560-415: The economy's services sector helped fuel a recovery, but people's incomes did not return to pre-2014 levels. Russian people%27s militias in Ukraine Russian separatist forces in Ukraine , primarily the People's Militias of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR), were pro-Russian paramilitaries in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. They were under
7668-422: The end of the century. The collapse of the Soviet Union disrupted, but did not sever, the ties that bound Kharkiv's heavy industries to the integrated Soviet market and supply chains, and did not diminish dependency on Russian oil, minerals, and gas. In Kharkiv and elsewhere in eastern Ukraine, the limited prospects for securing new economic partners in the West, and concern for the rights of Russian-speakers in
7776-418: The far-right New Force party) has been fighting for the Donetsk People's Republic since 2014 and was praised by its leader Gubarev as a "real fascist". Professor Anton Shekhovtsov , an expert on far-right movements in Russia and abroad, reported in 2014 that members of Polish neo-fascist group "Falanga" and Italian far-right group "Millennium" had joined the Donbas separatists. French Eurasianists , notably
7884-512: The far-right organization "Continental Unity", have also been accused of recruiting far-right extremists across Europe to fight for the Donbas separatists. Swedish and Finnish far-right groups, such as the " Power Belongs to the People " party, reportedly recruited volunteers to fight for the separatists, while members of the neo-Nazi " Nordic Resistance Movement " were seen attending paramilitary training in Russia. Other far-right foreign fighters from Europe and North America have fought alongside
7992-829: The fighters of the Donbas People's Militia were using Russian-made weapons never used (or bought) by the Ukrainian army . Such exclusively Russian equipment seen with pro-Russian separatists includes Russian modifications of T-72 tanks (particularly T-72B3 and T-72BA seen destroyed in Ukraine ), BTR-82 AM infantry fighting vehicle (adopted in Russia in 2013), BPM-97 armored personnel carriers, sophisticated anti-aircraft system Pantsir-S1 , multipurpose vehicle GAZ Vodnik (adopted in Russia in 2005), Russian modifications of MT-LB , rocket-propelled flamethrower MRO-A , anti-tank missile Kornet , anti-materiel rifle ASVK , suppressed sniper rifle VSS Vintorez and others. The Donetsk Higher Combined Arms Command School ( Russian : Донецкого высшего общевойскового командного училища )
8100-420: The first reports came in of fighting between the people's militia and Ukrainian troops near Sloviansk, with casualties on both sides. On 14 April, members of the Donbas People's Militia blocked Ukrainian military KrAZ trucks armed with Grad missiles from entering the city. On 15 April, a full scale " Anti-Terrorist Operation " was launched by the Ukrainian government with aim of restoring their authority over
8208-492: The first to employ the slogan "Glory to Ukraine!" and its response "Glory on all of earth!". In 1900, the student hromada founded the Revolutionary Ukrainian Party (RUP), which sought to unite all Ukrainian national elements, including the growing number of socialists. Following the revolutionary events 1905 in which Kharkiv distinguished itself by avoiding a reactionary pogrom against its Jewish population,
8316-474: The forceful conscription of soldiers from occupied territory, but Russian authorities claimed they are part of the independent sovereign nations of the Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic . After the leaders of the Russian proxy republics signed treaties of annexation with the Russian president on September 30, 2022, the Russian State Duma approved legislation on October 3 mandating
8424-457: The institution, more than 1,000 of them currently serve in officer posts in various power structures of Ukraine . It was renamed and converted in 2014; since then more than 300 students have graduated. The school is open to boys between 14 and 16 years old, many of whom come from military families. The cadets live at the school six days a week. The conclusion of the Dutch criminal investigation into
8532-632: The integration of the "people's militias" into the Russian military, backdated to the date of annexation. Upon the "annexation" of Ukrainian territories in September 2022, Russian occupation officials began forcibly conscripting Ukrainian men in occupied parts of Kherson oblast, and were reportedly ready to mobilize 3,000 in occupied Zaporizhzhia oblast. On 31 December 2022, Putin visited the Southern Military District headquarters in Rostov-on-Don to present battle colours to representatives of
8640-456: The jurisdiction of the Razryad Prikaz , a military agency commanded from Belgorod . The original walls of Kharkiv enclosed today's streets: vulytsia Kvitky-Osnovianenko, Constitution Square, Rose Luxemburg Square, Proletarian Square, and Cathedral Descent. There were 10 towers of which the tallest, Vestovska, was some 16 metres (52 ft) high. In 1689 the fortress was expanded to include
8748-485: The militia had at least 200 armored vehicles. July and early August were disastrous for the militias, with many analysts saying they were on the verge of defeat, before a sudden counteroffensive, which the Ukrainian government said was supported by Russian troops, encircled thousands of Ukrainian troops and forced them into a retreat. The militias soon re-captured several strategic positions such as Savur-Mohyla and Luhansk International Airport . In September 2014,
8856-512: The militia seized two BRDM unarmed armored vehicles from Severodonetsk and Lysychansk ( Luhansk Oblast ) On May 22, the Federal State of Novorossiya was declared. On May 23, several members of the people's militia seized another BRDM-RKh unarmed armored vehicle from Loskutovka ( Luhansk Oblast ) In July 2014, the estimated manpower of the separatists was around 10,000–20,000. The militia were widely suspected to have been involved in
8964-541: The militias and a command academy in Donetsk, referring to them as the 1st Donetsk Army Corps and 2nd Guards Luhansk-Sievierodonetsk Army Corps . In January 2023 the Russian defence ministry announced that "self-sufficient force groupings" would be established in Ukraine, and in February that four Russian-claimed oblasts in southeastern Ukraine were placed under command of the Southern Military District of
9072-410: The most influential far-right Russian separatists are neo-imperialists , who seek to revive the Russian Empire . These included Igor 'Strelkov' Girkin , first "minister of defence" of the Donetsk People's Republic, who espouses Russian neo-imperialism and ethno-nationalism. The Russian Imperial Movement , a white supremacist militant group, has trained and recruited thousands of volunteers to join
9180-614: The new Ukrainian government. On 6 April 2014, 2,000 pro-Russian protesters rallied outside the regional administration building. On the same day, groups of protesters in Eastern Ukraine stormed the regional administration building in Kharkiv , and the SBU headquarters in Luhansk . The groups created a people's council and demanded a referendum like the one held in Crimea. On 12 April, armed members of
9288-455: The new national state, combined to promote the interests of political parties and candidates emphasising understanding and cooperation with the Russian Federation . In the new century, these were represented by the Party of Regions and by the presidential ambitions of Victor Yanukovych , which in Kharkiv triumphed in the city council elections of 2006, in the parliamentary elections of 2007 and in
9396-465: The nominee of the Party of Regions , was placed under house arrest. Claiming to have been "prisoner of Yanukovych's system", he now declared his loyalty to acting President Oleksandr Turchynov . In a televised address on 7 April, Turchynov had announced that "a second wave of the Russian Federation's special operation against Ukraine [has] started" with the "goal of destabilising the situation in
9504-399: The occupation, Kharkiv's prewar population of 700,000 had been doubled by the influx of refugees. What remained of the pre-war Jewish population of 130,000, were slated by the Germans for "special treatment": between December 1941 and January 1942, they massacred and buried an estimated 15,000 Jews in a ravine outside of town named Drobytsky Yar . Over their 22 months occupation they executed
9612-466: The overall control of the Russian Federation . They were also referred to as Russian proxy forces . They were active during the war in Donbas (2014–2022), the first stage of the Russo-Ukrainian War . They then supported the Russian Armed Forces against the Ukrainian Armed Forces during the 2022 Russian invasion . In September 2022, Russia annexed the DPR and LPR, and began integrating
9720-712: The paramilitaries into its armed forces. They are designated as terrorist groups by the government of Ukraine . The separatist paramilitaries were formed during the 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine . The Donbas People's Militia was formed in March 2014 by Pavel Gubarev , who proclaimed himself "People's Governor" of Donetsk Oblast , while the Army of the South-East was formed in Luhansk Oblast . The Donbas war began in April 2014 after these groups seized Ukrainian government buildings in
9828-450: The police cordon. At least one tear gas grenade was used. The rioters asked the mayor, Hennadiy Kernes , a supporter of the president, to come out. Following recovery from his wounds, Kernes had been re-elected mayor, and was so again in 2020. He died of COVID-19 related complication in December 2020. He was succeeded by Ihor Terekhov of the " Kernes Bloc — Successful Kharkiv ". After
9936-509: The presidential elections of 2010. Although never attaining the level of protest witnessed in Kyiv and in communities further west, following the disputed 2012 Parliamentary elections public opposition to President Yanukovych and his party surfaced in Kharkiv amid accusations of systematic corruption and of sabotaging prospects for new ties to the European Union. The Euromaidan protests in
10044-464: The pro-Russian separatists in Donbas, including white nationalists, neo-Nazis, neo-fascists and Christian nationalists . Motivations for these fighters have included the belief that they are fighting America and Western interests and that Vladimir Putin is a bulwark for "traditional white European values" who they must support against the "decadent West". In April 2022, a video posted on Donetsk People's Republic's website showed Denis Pushilin awarding
10152-500: The region are to Scythian and Sarmatian settlement in the 2nd century BC. Between the 2nd to the 6th centuries AD there is evidence of Chernyakhov culture , a multiethnic mix of the Geto - Dacian , Sarmatian , and Gothic populations. In the 8th to 10th centuries the Khazar fortress of Verkhneye Saltovo stood about 25 miles (40 km) east of the modern city, near Staryi Saltiv . During
10260-448: The separatist units, at the battalion level and up, were acting under the command of Russian Army officers. In 2023, Russia acknowledged separatists who fought in the Donbas war as being eligible to receive Russian combat veteran status. Although called " militias ", shortly before the 2022 Russian invasion, the separatist republics began forced conscription of men to fight for Russia. The Donbas conscripts have been described as
10368-558: The separatists through its 'Russian Imperial Legion'. Some separatists have flown the black-yellow-white Russian imperial flag, such as the Sparta Battalion and the (now disbanded) 'Ratibor' unit. In 2014, volunteers from the National Liberation Movement joined the Donetsk People's Militia bearing portraits of Tsar Nicholas II . Other Russian nationalist volunteers involved in separatist militias included members of
10476-503: The separatists. Openly Neo-Nazi units such as ' Rusich ', 'Varyag' and 'Svarozhich' fought as part of the Russian paramilitaries from early 2014 and used Slavic swastikas on their badges, although some, such as 'Varyag', have since been disbanded. 'Rusich' is led by self-proclaimed neo-Nazi Alexey Milchakov and is part of the Wagner Group , a Russian private military company which has been linked to far-right extremism. Some of
10584-464: The settlement and the river to a legendary Cossack founder named Kharko (a diminutive form of the Greek name Chariton , Ukrainian : Харитон , romanized : Kharyton , or Zechariah , Ukrainian : Захарій , romanized : Zakharii ). But the river's name is attested earlier than the foundation of the fortress. The settlement reluctantly accepted the protection and authority of
10692-491: The shootdown of MH17 was that the "Russian Federation exercised overall control over the DPR", referring to vast evidence of frequent contacts between the DPR and LPR officials, and the Russian presidential administration, as well as the heads of the Russian military and FSB. As the conflict intensified, the Donbas People's Militia was bolstered with many volunteers from the former Soviet Union, mainly Russia ; including fighters from Chechnya and North Ossetia . According to
10800-457: The state budget, mostly public servants). But Pro-Yanukovych demonstrations, held near the statue of Lenin in Freedom (previously Dzerzhinsky) Square , were similarly small. In the wake of Yanukovych's ouster in February, there were attempts in Kharkiv to follow the example of separatists in neighbouring Donbas . On 2 March 2014, a Russian "tourist" from Moscow replaced the Ukrainian flag with
10908-766: The streets searching for men at the age range, arresting and sending to conscription offices any they found. In some regions, up to 80% of employees of local enterprises were called up, which led to the shutdown of mines (the main source of employment in the Donbas) and public transport, resulting in the paralysis of city and public services. Most of the Donbas conscripts are unexperienced, received little-to-no training and were badly equipped, and suffered from morale issues and heavy casualties. The role of Donbas conscripts by Russian forces has been described as " cannon fodder ". There were reports of conscipts being issued antiquated equipment such as World War I -era Mosin–Nagant rifles and
11016-692: The treaty terms agreed with the Central Powers at Brest-Litovsk , they abandoned the city and ceded the territory to the German-occupied Ukrainian State . After the German withdrawal, the Red Army returned but, in June 1919, withdrew again before the advancing forces of Anton Denikin 's White movement Volunteer . By December 1919 Soviet authority was restored. The Bolsheviks established Kharkiv as
11124-457: The two separatist armies would still operate in an unified manner. On 2 February 2015, Head of the DPR, Alexander Zakharchenko , announced that there would be a general mobilization in the DPR of 10,000 volunteers, and he aimed to eventually expand the NAF to 100,000 soldiers. In March 2015, the estimated manpower of the separatists rose to 30,000–35,000 personnel. On 20 May 2015 the leadership of
11232-465: The victory over Napoleon I in 1812, was built next to the first Assumption Cathedral (later to be transformed by the Soviet authorities into a radio tower ). A system of running water was established in 1870. In the course of the 19th century, although predominantly Russian speaking, Kharkiv became a centre of Ukrainian culture. The first Ukrainian newspaper was published in the city in 1812. Soon after
11340-408: The winter of 2013–2014 against then president Viktor Yanukovych consisted of daily gatherings of about 200 protestors near the statue of Taras Shevchenko and were predominantly peaceful. Disappointed at the turnout, an activist at Kharkiv University suggested that his fellow students "proved to be as much of an inert, grey and cowed mass as Kharkiv’s ‘ biudzhetniki ’ " (those whose income derives from
11448-444: Was at the forefront of democratic agitation. In October 1991, a call from Kyiv for an all-Ukrainian university strike to protest Gorbachev's new Union Treaty and to call for new multi-party elections was met with a rally at the entrance to the university attended not only by students and university teachers, but also by a range of public and cultural figures. The protests—the so-called Revolution on Granite —ended on 17 October with
11556-493: Was killed when Russian fire hit his apartment bloc on 18 March 2022. By the time of Kharkiv's liberation in August 1943, the surviving population had been reduced to under 200,000. Seventy percent of the city had been destroyed. According to a New York Time's piece, "The city was more battered than perhaps any other in the Soviet Union save Stalingrad." Before the occupation, Kharkiv's tank industries had been evacuated to
11664-821: Was the capital of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic . Kharkiv is a major cultural, scientific, educational, transport, and industrial centre of Ukraine, with numerous museums, theatres, and libraries, including the Annunciation and Dormition cathedrals, the Derzhprom building in Freedom Square , and the National University of Kharkiv . Industry plays a significant role in Kharkiv's economy, specialised primarily in machinery and electronics . There are hundreds of industrial facilities throughout
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