Kharkov Military District

Kharkov Military District
District headquarters building in Kharkov
Active	1864–1888 January–September 1919 January 1920–April 1922 May 1935–November 1941 September 1943–May 1946
Country	Russian Empire Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic Soviet Union
Type	Military district
Headquarters	Kharkov
Engagements	Russian Civil War World War II
Commanders
Notable commanders	Mikhail Loris-Melikov Fyodor Radetzky Robert Eideman August Kork Ivan Dubovoy Semyon Timoshenko Yakov Cherevichenko Ivan Tyulenev

The Kharkov Military District (Russian: Харьковский военный округ (ХВО), romanized: Khar'kovskiy voyennyy okrug (KhVO)) was a military district of the Russian Empire, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, and the Soviet Union. Throughout its history, the district headquarters was located in the city of Kharkov in northeastern Ukraine.

First established in 1864 in the Russian Empire as part of reforms of the military administrative system, the district was disbanded and its territory transferred to the Kiev Military District and the Moscow Military District in 1888. The district was reestablished by the Red Army during the Russian Civil War in January 1919, but disbanded in September after its territory was taken over by White troops. It was reestablished in January 1920 after its territory was recaptured by the Red Army, but was disbanded in 1922 and its troops subordinated to the Southwestern Military District, which soon became the Ukrainian Military District.

In 1935, the district was reestablished when the Ukrainian Military District was split into the Kiev and Kharkov Military Districts. On 22 June 1941, Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union in World War II, began. A series of German victories resulted in the Soviet retreat from the district's territory, and it was disbanded in late November. After Soviet troops recaptured the region in the Battle of the Dnieper, the Kharkov Military District was reestablished in late September 1943. After the end of the war it was downgraded to a territorial military district in February 1946 and disbanded several months later, with its territory being transferred to the Kiev Military District.