A military counteroffensive was launched by Ukraine on 29 August 2022 to expel Russian forces occupying the southern regions of Kherson and Mykolaiv oblasts.
Military analysts consider the counteroffensive to be the third strategic phase of the war in Ukraine, along with the concurrent eastern counteroffensive, after the initial invasion and the battle of Donbas.
The Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine are areas of southern and eastern Ukraine that are controlled by Russia as a result of the Russo-Ukrainian War and the ongoing invasion. In Ukrainian law, they are defined as the "temporarily occupied territories". As of 2024, Russia occupies almost 20% of Ukraine and about 3 to 3.5 million Ukrainians are estimated to be living under occupation; since the invasion, the occupied territories lost roughly half of their population. The United Nations Human Rights Office reports that Russia is committing severe human rights violations in occupied Ukraine, including arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances, torture, crackdown on peaceful protest and freedom of speech, enforced Russification, passportization, indoctrination of children, and suppression of Ukrainian language and culture.
The occupation began in 2014 with Russia's invasion and annexation of Crimea, and its de facto takeover of Ukraine's Donbas during a war in eastern Ukraine. In 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion. However, due to fierce Ukrainian resistance and logistical challenges (e.g. the stalled Russian Kyiv convoy), the Russian Armed Forces retreated from northern Ukraine in early April. In September 2022, Ukrainian forces launched the Kharkiv counteroffensive and liberated most of that oblast. Another southern counteroffensive resulted in the liberation of Kherson that November.
Kherson Oblast (Ukrainian: Херсонська область, romanized: Khersonska oblast, IPA: [xerˈsɔnʲsʲkɐ ˈɔblɐsʲtʲ]; Russian: Херсонская область), also known as Khersonshchyna (Херсонщина, IPA: [xerˈsɔnʃtʃɪnɐ]), is an oblast (province) in southern Ukraine. It is located just north of Crimea. Its administrative center is Kherson, on the northern or right bank of the Dnieper river, which bisects the oblast. The oblast has an area of 28,461 km and a population of 1,001,598 (2022 estimate). It is considered the 'fruit basket' of the country, as much of its agricultural production is dispersed throughout the country, with production peaking during the summer months.
Most of the area of the oblast has been under Russian military occupation since early in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. In September 2022, Russia claimed to have annexed Kherson Oblast after arranging a disputed referendum. The referendum and the subsequent claimed annexation are internationally unrecognized. As the result of a counteroffensive operation, Ukrainian forces retook the whole area on the right bank of the Dnieper, including Kherson city, by mid-November 2022.
On 6 September 2022, the Armed Forces of Ukraine launched a major counteroffensive against the Russian military during the Russo-Ukrainian war. As Ukraine announced the start of the Kherson counteroffensive in southern Ukraine in late August, Ukrainian forces also began a second counteroffensive in early September in Kharkiv Oblast, in eastern Ukraine.
As the Ukrainian military broke through Russian defensive lines, it recaptured multiple cities in a matter of days. On 7 September, the second day of the counteroffensive, the Ukrainian military advanced over 20 kilometres (12 mi) into Russian-held territory. The next day, Ukraine recaptured Balakliia and Shevchenkove as Russian forces withdrew and fled. On the 9th, Russia began announcing for evacuations in nearby areas as the Ukrainian military continued its advance. The next day, Ukraine retook the key cities of Izium and Kupiansk, securing access to the Oskil River. By the 11th, Ukraine successfully advanced up to 70 kilometres (43 mi) from the pre-counteroffensive front line. In turn, Russia's defence ministry announced the withdrawal of all forces west of the Oskil.
On 11 November 2022, the Armed Forces of Ukraine liberated and recaptured the city of Kherson and other areas of the Kherson Oblast and parts of the Mykolaiv Oblast on the right bank of the Dnipro River from Russian control. The Russian Armed Forces, which had occupied the city since 2 March 2022, withdrew and retreated to the left bank of the Kherson Oblast over the course of 9–11 November 2022.
The Ukrainian soldiers were greeted with cheers and large celebrations in the city square. The events were the culmination of the 2022 Kherson counteroffensive, and were seen as a large blow to Russian president Vladimir Putin, who had declared Kherson to be "part of Russia forever".
The Kinburn Spit (Ukrainian: Кінбурнська коса, romanized: Kinbúrnska kosá) is a spit in Mykolaiv Raion, Mykolaiv Oblast, Ukraine. Its only land access is through Kherson Oblast. It occupies the westernmost part of the Kinburn Peninsula, stretching west into the Black Sea between the Dnieper-Bug estuary to the north and the Yahorlyk Bay to the south. It is approximately 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) long, with a width of about 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) at its base, narrowing to about 100 metres (330 ft) in its western half.
During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the spit was captured by Russian forces on 10 June 2022. Russia fortified the spit and used it as a site to deploy electronic warfare and coordinate missile and artillery attacks on nearby Ukrainian positions. Since Ukraine's 2022 Kherson counteroffensive that ended in November 2022, regained territory north of the spit has allowed Ukrainian forces to more frequently conduct amphibious operations against the spit as reconnaissance for its potential recapture.