Battle of Okhtyrka

Battle context

The Russian advance into northern Ukraine on 24 February 2022 represented the opening thrust of the full-scale invasion, with forces crossing from both Russia and Belarus into the oblasts of Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, and Zhytomyr. The stated operational objective was the capture of Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital and seat of government. With Russia committing approximately 70,000 troops against a Ukrainian force of roughly 20,000 in the northern axis, the operation sought a rapid decapitation of Ukrainian state authority. Failure to achieve that objective would prove consequential for the entire campaign, as Ukrainian resistance in the north ultimately forced a Russian withdrawal from the Kyiv axis and shifted the war's center of gravity to the south and east.