Kyiv Offensive (2022)

Significance

The Russian offensive into northern Ukraine on 24 February 2022 marked the opening of the full-scale invasion, with forces crossing from both the Russia–Ukraine and Belarus–Ukraine borders into the oblasts of Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, and Zhytomyr. The primary objective was the capture of Kyiv, Ukraine's capital and the seat of its government. Securing Kyiv would have decapitated Ukrainian state authority and potentially ended organized resistance at the outset of the war. The defense of the capital therefore carried strategic weight far beyond the city itself, making the northern axis the most consequential theater of the invasion's opening phase. Ukraine committed approximately 20,000 personnel to the defense, sustaining between 200 and 948 casualties in the effort.

Forces & casualties