Battle of Kiev (1918)

Battle of Kiev
	Part of Ukrainian-Soviet War (1917-1921)
	; A squad of Red Guards who fought in Kiev
Date	5–8 February 1918
Location	Kiev, Ukrainian People's Republic
Result	Bolshevik victory
Belligerents
Ukrainian People's Republic	Russian SFSR
Commanders and leaders
Mykhailo Kovenko	Mikhail Muravyov
Units involved
Kiev city garrison	Red Guards
Strength
2,000; 3 batteries	7,000 ; armored train ; artillery battery

Last updated November 25, 2024

The Battle of Kyiv of January 1918 was a Bolshevik military operation of Petrograd and Moscow Red Guard formations directed to capture the capital of Ukraine. The operation was led by Red Guards commander Mikhail Artemyevich Muravyov as part of the Soviet expeditionary force against Kaledin and the Central Council of Ukraine. The storming of Kiev took place during the ongoing peace negotiations at Brest-Litovsk on 5–8 February 1918 (23–26 January in the Julian calendar). The operation resulted in the occupation of the city by Bolshevik troops on 9 February and the evacuation of the Ukrainian government to Zhytomyr.

Background

The objective of the 1918 Battle of Kyiv was to install Soviet power in Ukraine. During the winter of 1917/18 the revolutionary formations of Russia installed Soviet power in governorates of Kharkiv, Yekaterinoslav (modern day Dnipro), and Poltava, Kyiv was next. The general command directed onto Kyiv was under the command of Mikhail Muravyov. On 27 January 1918 the government of Ukraine announced Kyiv under a siege and appointed Mykhailo Kovenko as the military commandant of the city's defence. With the approach of the advancing Soviet forces the city's Bolsheviks instigated an uprising at the Arsenal factory, which was extinguished in seven days on 4 February 1918. The Bolshevik protest in the city greatly eased the advancement of the Soviet forces, drawing several Ukrainian formations out of adjacent provinces. The Kyiv garrison was greatly demoralized by Bolshevik propaganda and Soviet advances across the territory of Ukraine. Ukrainian regiments were depleted, and some either announced their neutrality or were eager to side with the Bolsheviks.

Bolshevik forces attacked the city from Bakhmach and Lubny. On 8 February, the Ukrainian government was forced to abandon the city. On 9 February General Muravyov took control of the city and instituted a reign of Red terror ^[1] of brutal reprisals against Kyiv's population^[2] that would last twenty days.

Aftermath

On same the day Bolshevik forces captured Kyiv, the Central Rada signed a treaty with the Central Powers. Ukrainian People's Army forces under Symon Petliura, along with German and Austro-Hungarian troops, would retake Kyiv on 1 March.^[3] The Bolshevik government recognized Ukraine's independence on 3 March. Subsequently, during May to October 1918, peace negotiations were held between Russia and Ukraine.

Order of battle

Muravyov Forces

Commander in Chief Mikhail Artemyevich Muravyov
- 1st Army Colonel Pavel Yegorov
- 2nd Army Colonel Reingold Berzin

List of formations

Red Guards of Bryansk 800 soldiers / Russians
Red Guards of Moscow (Moscow river neighborhood) 200 soldiers / Latvians/ Russians
Red Guards of Kharkiv 500 soldiers / Jews/ Russians
Donbas Red Guards of Dmitry Zhloba 300 soldiers / Russians/ Ukrainians/ Jews
Red Guards of Putilov Factory 60 soldiers / Jews/Russians/ Ukrainians
1st Petrograd Red Guard formation 1,000 soldiers / Latvians/ Russians
Red Guards of Petrograd (Moscow district) 500 soldiers / Latvians/ Russians
Kharkiv Red Guards of Aleksandr Belenkovich 150 soldiers / Jews/ Russians/ Ukrainians
Red Cossacks of Vitaly Markovich Primakov 198 soldiers / Russians/ Ukrainians
Bryansk battery 92 soldiers / Russians
Armoured train of Moscow 100 soldiers / Russians
Red Guards formations of local settlements / Jews/ Russians
Underground workers of Arsenal (Cave monastery) / Russians/ Ukrainians

Composition by nationality: Russians - 88%; Jews - 7%; Ukrainians - 5%

Ukrainian Forces

City commandant Mykhailo Kovenko
- Haidamaka Host of Sloboda Ukraine Symon Petliura—400 soldiers
  - 2nd Cadet School Battalion—110 "Black Haidamakas"
  - Free Cossacks formations
  - Artillery division—3 batteries
- Sich Riflemen of Halych Battalion Yevhen Konovalets—500 soldiers
- Doroshenko Regiment—200 soldiers
- Remnants of Bohdaniv Regiment Oleksandr Shapoval

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References

↑ Orest Subtelny (2009). Ukraine: A History (4th ed.). Toronto: University of Toronto Press. p. 353. ISBN 978-1-4426-4016-0. LCCN 2009504897. OL 24009136M. Wikidata Q104049525.
↑ Arkadii Zhukovsky, "Ukrainian-Soviet War, 1917–21", in Roman Senkus; Oleh Havrylyshyn; Frank Sysyn; et al. (eds.), Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine, Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, Wikidata Q87193076
↑ (in Ukrainian) The world's first monument to Colonel of the UPR Army Bolbochan was unveiled in Kyiv, The Ukrainian Week (5 October 2020)

External links

1918 Chronicles. Institute of History of Ukraine.
War between Russia and Ukraine in 1917-18. Institute of History of Ukraine
War between Bolsheviks and the government of Ukraine in 1917-18. Military Literature.
Great Britain. Parliament. The parliamentary debates from the year 1803 to the present time.
Battle for Kiev: Petliura against Muravyov

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[Subtelny-1] Orest Subtelny (2009). Ukraine: A History (4th ed.). Toronto: University of Toronto Press. p. 353. ISBN 978-1-4426-4016-0. LCCN 2009504897. OL 24009136M. Wikidata Q104049525.

[Encyclopedia-2] Arkadii Zhukovsky, "Ukrainian-Soviet War, 1917–21", in Roman Senkus; Oleh Havrylyshyn; Frank Sysyn; et al. (eds.), Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine, Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, Wikidata Q87193076

[tyzhden.ua248383KB1918-3] (in Ukrainian) The world's first monument to Colonel of the UPR Army Bolbochan was unveiled in Kyiv, The Ukrainian Week (5 October 2020)

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