| Russian occupation of Mykolaiv Oblast | |
| Native Name Lang: | uk |
| Settlement Type: | Military occupation and annexation |
| Image Map1: | Kherson military–civilian administration hatched.svg |
| Map Caption1: | Kherson Oblast – with Snihurivka's environs and the outer Kinburn Peninsula attached – Russian territorial claim since 30 September 2022: |
| Subdivision Type: | Occupied country |
| Subdivision Name: | Ukraine |
| Subdivision Type1: | Occupying power |
| Subdivision Name1: | Russia |
| Subdivision Type2: | Russian-installed occupation regime |
| Subdivision Name2: | Nikolaev military-civilian administration (??? – 30 September 2022) |
| Subdivision Type3: | Partially part of a disputed oblast of Russia |
| Subdivision Name3: | Kherson Oblast (30 September 2022 – 10 November 2022) |
| Subdivision Type4: | Partially claimed by Russia but vast majority not controlled |
| Subdivision Name4: | Kherson Oblast (10 November 2022 – Present) |
| Established Title: | Southern Ukraine campaign |
| Established Date: | 24 February 2022 |
| Established Title1: | Annexation by Russia (incorporation into Kherson MCA) |
| Established Date1: | 30 September 2022[1] |
| Established Title2: | Ukrainian southern counteroffensive |
| Established Date2: | 10 November 2022 |
| Seat Type: | Administrative centre |
| Seat: | Snihurivka (until 10 November) |
| Seat1 Type: | Largest settlement |
| Seat1: | Snihurivka (until 10 November) Oleksandrivka (10–11 November) Vasylivka (since 11 November) |
| Leader Title: | Head of Administration |
| Leader Name: | Yuriy Barbashov (until 10 November 2022) |
The Russian occupation of Mykolaiv Oblast is an ongoing military occupation of Ukraine's Mykolaiv Oblast by Russian forces during the Russian invasion of Ukraine as part of the southern Ukraine campaign. The Russian-installed occupation regime was called the "Nikolaev military-civilian administration".
Russian forces never managed to capture the capital city of the oblast, Mykolaiv, although they attacked the city in February–March 2022. They managed to occupy territory in the southeast of the oblast, reaching as far as Voznesensk in March 2022 before withdrawing to the extreme southeast, bordering Kherson Oblast.
On 21 September 2022, it was reported that Russian-occupied areas of Mykolaiv Oblast would be incorporated into the Russian administration for the Kherson Oblast.[1] Russia declared that it had annexed the Kherson Oblast nine days later.
On 10–11 November 2022, Ukrainian forces liberated Snihurivka[2] [3] and the surrounding area[4] [5] as part of the Ukrainian southern counteroffensive, in which a large swathe of territory in the west of Kherson Oblast—including the city of Kherson—was also liberated. By 12 November 2022, Russian forces had been expelled from the entire oblast apart from the outer portion of the Kinburn Peninsula in the far south.[6]
Shortly after invading Ukraine, Russian forces occupied the town of Snihurivka, which is approximately 60 km (37.3 miles) from the regional capital of Mykolaiv. Russia then continued to occupy surrounding towns near the border with Kherson Oblast, as well as several villages (Pokrovka, Pokrovske and Vasylivka) in the Biloberezhia Sviatoslava National Park, the latter of which became part of the Russian-occupied Kherson Oblast Military-Civilian Administration.
In late April, Russian forces prepared a referendum to integrate occupied areas into the Republic of Crimea as well as appoint a governor for the areas.[7] Russian passports and rubles are said to be issued and given out by September 1, which have been already issued and given out in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia administrations.[8]
On 27 June 2022, the Security Service of Ukraine claimed to have detained a former deputy of the Mykolaiv City Council who was collaborating with Russian forces in Mykolaiv Oblast. He had an idea for the separation of Mykolaiv Oblast from Ukraine and the creation of a Russian backed separatist enclave called the "Mykolaiv People's Republic", he reportedly leaked information about the Armed Forces of Ukraine, hoping to obtain an executive position in the occupying administration. The plan was for the separatist enclave to exist until Russia's war in Ukraine was over, then the plan was for the "MPR" to be annexed to Russia. The Russians had allegedly also promised the collaborator an executive position in the "MPR" administration as a reward for his work if they managed to occupy the region.[9]
The administration was officially established on 13 August 2022.[10] [11] On 2 September, Russian forces captured the settlement of Pervomaiske, which remained the second largest in the occupied authority until the beginning of Russian withdrawal and the settlement of Partyzanske remained contested.[12] [13]
On 21 September, it was announced that the area surrounding Snihurivka as well as the outer portion of the Kinburn Peninsula, which constituted the parts of Mykolaiv Oblast that were under Russian control at the time, would be incorporated into Russia's administration in Kherson Oblast, ending the Nikolaev military-civilian administration. These areas would eventually on 30 September be annexed by Russia.[14] [15] [16]
On 8 August 2022, Ekaterina Gubareva, deputy head of the Kherson Civilian-Military Administration announced the annexation of occupied territories of Mykolaiv Oblast. She also claimed that in some occupied towns, Russian mobile communications have begun to work. According to her, such a decision was made in order to provide the population with social payments in the "liberated" territories, as well as to establish mobile communications and television broadcasting.[17] [18]
On 13 August 2022, an article published by Tass, claimed that Yuriy Barbashov, governor of occupied territories claimed that a referendum in Snihurivka would take place to join Russia. The referendum would be aligned as the one in the Kherson Oblast.[19]
On 11 September, following a major Ukrainian counteroffensive, it was announced that the proposed annexation referendums would be "indefinitely" postponed.[20] [21]
On 30 September, Russia claimed to officially annex the Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk and Donetsk Oblasts. The occupied areas of the Mykolaiv Oblast including Snihurivka and Oleksandrivka were streamlined into the Kherson Oblast claimed by Russia. The United Nations General Assembly subsequently passed a resolution calling on countries not to recognise what it described as an "attempted illegal annexation" and demanded that Russia "immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw".[22]
See main article: 2022 Ukrainian southern counteroffensive. Following the Southern Ukrainian Counteroffensive, it was reported that Russian troops were leaving Snihurivka and evacuating the population into Crimea and the occupied Kherson Oblast.[23] During this time, Ukrainian forces recaptured Ternovi Pody and Liubomyrivka, west of occupied Tsentralne,[24] [25] after conducting several raids.[26]
On 9 November, the Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced the withdrawal of Russian forces from the right bank of the Dnieper River. The next day, Ukrainian forces re-entered the town of Snihurivka and raised the Ukrainian flag.[27] A few other small settlements remained under Russian control.[28] [29] By 11 November Ukrainian forces had regained control of almost all of the oblast with only the outer portion of the Kinburn Peninsula remaining under Russian occupation.[4] [30]
The village of Maksymivka, located near the core of the occupation, also north of Tsentralne and south of Blahodatne and Partyzanske, was completely destroyed.
A mass grave was found in Snihurivka with 27 dead civilians. At the same time, it was emphasized that no mass burial sites were found in the city, as was the massacre in Bucha, Kyiv oblast. All the bodies were buried in individual graves.[31] [32] [33] [34] [35] Much of the city was damaged and destroyed. A tomato plant, built in 2018,[36] was bombed and destroyed using grad multiple rocket launchers[37] [38]