1919 Soviet invasion of Ukraine

1919 Soviet invasion of Ukraine
Part of the Soviet–Ukrainian War and Russian Civil War
Leon Trotsky inspects units of the Red Army in Kharkiv, which was occupied by the Russian Bolsheviks, June 1919.
Date 2 January – 31 August 1919 Location Ukraine Result Soviet defeat Hryhorivshchyna and Makhnovshchyna rebel against Soviet command Monarchists with the help from Allies win the battle for the Donbas, successfully capture Kyiv and advance on Moscow Poland occupies Volhynia and Galicia (Eastern Lesser Poland) Ukrainian Front disbanded and integrated into the Western and Southern Fronts
Belligerents
Soviets Russian SFSR Ukrainian SSR Crimean SSR Partisans Green Army [a] Hryhorivshchyna [b] Makhnovshchyna [c]	Nationalists Ukrainian People's Republic West Ukrainian People's Republic Independent Medvyn Republic Kholodny Yar Republic	White movement South Russia Crimea Allies France Greece Poland
Commanders and leaders
Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko Vasily Glagolev Pavel Dybenko Ivan Dubovoy Mykola Shchors Yuriy Kotsiubynsky Efim Shchadenko Andrei Bubnov Nestor Makhno Nykyfor Hryhoriv Danylo Terpylo	Symon Petliura Petro Bolbochan Yevhen Konovalets Oleksandr Udovychenko Yuriy Tyutyunnyk Mykhailo Omelianovych-Pavlenko	Anton Denikin Nikolai Bredov [ru] Pyotr Krasnov Antoni Listowski Wacław Iwaszkiewicz
Units involved
Ukrainian Front 1st Ukrainian Soviet Army 2nd Ukrainian Soviet Army 3rd Ukrainian Soviet Army Crimean Soviet Army	Ukrainian People's Army Ukrainian Galician Army	Armed Forces of South Russia Volunteer Army Don Army Polish Armed Forces Volhynian Front Polesie Front Galician Front
Strength
50,000 14,000 infantry 1,400 cavalry 20 artillery guns 139 machine guns	20,000
^ Allied with the Bolsheviks until February, when it rebelled. ^ Part of the 3rd Ukrainian Soviet Army until May, when it launched an anti-Bolshevik uprising in Kherson. ^ Part of the 2nd Ukrainian Soviet Army until June, when it resigned its position.

The Soviet invasion of Ukraine was a major offensive by the Ukrainian Front of the Red Army against the Ukrainian People's Republic (UPR) during the Soviet–Ukrainian War. The invasion was first planned in November 1918, after the Council of People's Commissars of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic annulled the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, and was launched in the first days of January 1919, with the occupation of Kharkiv. Its aim was to join Ukraine to the RSFSR, as the country was of significant economic, demographic and strategic importance for the Bolsheviks. In the longer term, the capture of the Black Sea coast was to prevent an intervention by the Allies in support of the Volunteer Army. Finally, the Bolsheviks intended to extend the area they control as far as possible to the west, in order to be able to support the other revolutionary movements in Europe.

In the first days of January 1919, by joining forces with local workers' units, the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Soviet Division [uk] took Kharkiv, which was announced as the seat of the Provisional Workers' and Peasants' Government of Ukraine. Then they quickly captured most of northern and eastern Ukraine, and on 5 February 1919, they occupied Kyiv. The Directorate of Ukraine moved to Vinnytsia, then to Kamianets-Podilskyi. By spring, the Red Army had reached the Zbruch and repelled a counteroffensive by the Ukrainian People's Army (UPA) that threatened Kyiv.

The introduction of the policy of war communism and the requisitioning of food for the needs of the cities quickly alienated a significant part of the Ukrainian peasantry from Bolshevik rule. The outbreak of a number of local uprisings, and in May 1919, the rebellion of the 20,000-strong forces of Nykyfor Hryhoriv, prevented the Red Army from finally destroying the UPA and marching west towards Bessarabia and Hungary. At the end of June, the Red Army suffered a series of defeats in clashes with the Volunteer Army in Donbas, losing Katerynoslav and Poltava by the end of June 1919, as well as those territories captured in the course of operations against Mykolaiv and Odesa. In August, the Red Army also succumbed to the offensive of the combined forces of the Ukrainian People's Army and the Ukrainian Galician Army. On 31 August, Kyiv was captured, first by the Ukrainian People's Army, and then, after their withdrawal from the city, by the Volunteer Army.^[1]