Kharkiv Oblast, also referred to as Kharkivshchyna (Харківщина), is an oblast (province) in eastern Ukraine. The oblast borders Russia to the north, Luhansk Oblast to the east, Donetsk Oblast to the south-east, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast to the south-west, Poltava Oblast to the west and Sumy Oblast to the north-west. The area of the oblast is 31,400 square kilometres (12,100 sq mi), corresponding to 5.2% of the total territory of Ukraine.
The Kharkiv University or KarazinUniversity, or officially V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, is one of the major universities in Ukraine, and earlier in the Russian Empire and Soviet Union. It was founded in 1804 through the efforts of Vasily Karazin becoming the second oldest university in modern-day Ukraine.
An oblast in Ukraine, sometimes translated as region or province, is the main type of first-level administrative division of the country. Ukraine's territory is divided into 24 oblasts, as well as one autonomous republic and two cities with special status. Ukraine is a unitary state, thus the oblasts do not have much legal scope of competence other than that which is established in the Ukrainian Constitution and by law. Articles 140–146 of Chapter XI of the constitution deal directly with local authorities and their competency.
Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest city and municipality 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 of the surrounding Kharkiv Raion. It has a population of 1,421,125.
Football Club Metalist Kharkiv is a Ukrainian football club based in Kharkiv that plays in the Ukrainian First League during the 2021–22 season. It was revived 5 years after the original FC Metalist Kharkiv ceased operations.
FC Kharkiv was a professional football club based in Kharkiv, Ukraine. After 2009–10 Ukrainian First League season the club was relegated to the Ukrainian Second League. However, they failed attestation when they submitted falsified documents to the Attestation Committee of the Football Federation of Ukraine and their professional license was withdrawn.
Kharkiv International Airport is an airport located in Kharkiv, Ukraine. It is the main airfield serving the city of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city. It is located to the south-east of the city center, in the city's Slobidskyi district.
Hennadiy Adolfovych Kernes was a Ukrainian politician who was the Mayor of Kharkiv from 2010 until his death in 2020.
Ihor Myronovych Baluta is a Ukrainian pediatrician, businessman, Ukrainian politician and Governor Kharkiv Oblast from March 2014 until February 2015.
Yuliya Svitlychna is a Ukrainian politician. In a 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election by-election on 15 March 2020 Svitlychna was elected to Ukraine's parliament. From 15 October 2016 until 6 November 2019 she was the Governor of Kharkiv Oblast. Before this she was a Deputy of the Kharkiv Regional Council of 7th convocation, Vice President of the Chamber of Regions in the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe. Svitlychna has a PhD in state administration and was during her reign the youngest regional governor in Ukraine.
The Battle of Kharkiv was a military engagement that took place from February to May 2022 in and around the city of Kharkiv in Ukraine, as part of the northeastern Ukraine offensive and eastern Ukraine offensive during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Kharkiv, located just 30 kilometres (19 mi) south of the Russia–Ukraine border and a predominately Russian-speaking city, is the second-largest city in Ukraine and was considered a major target for the Russian military early in the invasion.
The northeastern Ukraine campaign was a theatre of operation from 24 February to 8 April 2022 in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine for control of two provinces (oblasts) in Ukraine — Chernihiv Oblast and Sumy Oblast. On 4 April 2022, Ukrainian authorities said that Russian troops had mostly withdrawn from Sumy Oblast and no longer occupied any towns or villages in the area. Later that evening Ukrainian authorities claimed that Russian forces had withdrawn from Chernihiv Oblast, which was confirmed by the Pentagon by 6 April. In addition, it took place from February 24 to May 14 in Kharkiv Oblast. On 14 May, the ISW reported that: “Ukraine thus appears to have won the battle of Kharkiv.” The Mayor of Kharkiv said to the BBC: "There was no shelling in the city for the last five days. There was only one attempt from Russians to hit the city with a missile rocket near Kharkiv airport, but the missile was eliminated by Ukrainian Air Defence."
The Russian occupation of Kharkiv Oblast, officially the Kharkov Military–Civilian Administration, is an ongoing military occupation that began on 24 February 2022, after Russian forces invaded Ukraine and began capturing and occupying parts of Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine. Russian forces failed to capture the capital of the oblast, Kharkiv. However, other major cities including Izium, Kupiansk, and Balakliia were captured by Russian forces. The city of Chuhuiv was captured by Russian forces on 25 February, but was recaptured by Ukrainian forces on 7 March. As of November 2022, Russian forces only occupy a small portion of land in the Kharkiv Oblast.
The Kharkiv government building airstrike occurred on March 1, 2022, when Russian forces attacked the government administrative building of the Kharkiv oblast in the Kharkiv.
The missile strike on dormitories in Kharkiv was performed by Russian aviation with a series of missiles in the evening of 17 August and in the morning of 18 August 2022. This became one of the largest attacks on Kharkiv and one of the most tragic nights of the city. The impact killed 25 people including an 11-year old boy. 44 were injured.
The 2022 Kharkiv counteroffensive was a counteroffensive by the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory of the Kharkiv Oblast which was launched on 6 September 2022. Following the launch of the Kherson counteroffensive in Southern Ukraine in late August, Ukrainian forces began a second counteroffensive in early September in Kharkiv Oblast, in Eastern Ukraine.
The Battle of Balakliia was the first battle of the Ukrainian Kharkiv counteroffensive that began on September 6, 2022.
The Battle of Shevchenkove was the second battle of the 2022 Kharkiv counteroffensive that began on September 7, 2022.
The Battle of Kupiansk was the third battle of the Ukrainian Kharkiv counteroffensive that began on September 8, 2022 and ended on September 16, 2022. A Financial Times article on 28 September depicted the battle and the Ukrainian advance preceding it as "The 90km journey that changed the course of the war in Ukraine."