The occupation of Balakliia
Balakliia is in the Kharkiv Oblast, approximately 90 kilometres south of Kharkiv city. The Kharkiv Oblast borders Russia and was a strategic target of the invasion, along with the Donbas region and southern Ukraine.
Source: https://liveuamap.com/ as of 4 August 2025.
When Russia launched its invasion, the Kharkiv Oblast quickly became one of the conflict's key battlefields due to its proximity to the Russian border. Balakliia was among the first towns to fall under Russian occupation. Its strategic significance stemmed from its location along key transport routes, making it valuable for Russian military logistics.
During the invasion, the direction of movement of the columns of Russian Armed Forces equipment during the period from 24 to 28 February 2022 was as follows:
- The 64th Separate Guards Motorised Rifle Brigade, as part of the 35th Combined Arms Army, moved from the city of Kupiansk, the village of Volokhov Yar, and the village of Iakovenkove along the R78 highway to the town of Balakliia. In March 2022, the Brigade's service members participated in the large-scale Russian invasion, operating in the Kyiv direction. In particular, they occupied the village of Andriivka, Buchanskyi district, where the service members committed mass murders. After that, they moved to the city of Bucha. In April 2022, they were redeployed to the Kharkiv direction, in particular, they participated in the occupation of Balakliia.
- The 4th company, as part of the 4th battalion of the 202nd Motorised Rifle Regiment of the so-called Luhansk People's Republic (LPR), moved from the villages of Borova, Vesele, and Savyntsi along the T2110 highway to the town of Balakliia. They directly participated in the occupation of Balakliia and controlled the district of the village of Verbivka.
An analysis, using the capabilities of the I-DOC database, has established the connections shown on the map.
Balakliia is connected to a railway network that links it to major cities and regions across Ukraine. This railway can transport personnel and military equipment. The town is located approximately 40 km northwest of Izium at the intersection between the regional (P78) and territorial (T2110) highways, approximately 18 km southwest of the E40 international highway (designated as M03 in Ukraine) and the P78 highway. The E40 highway extends from Donetsk and the Russian border in the east to Lviv and Poland in the west, connecting Kharkiv and the Sloviansk-Kramatorsk territory (the administrative centre of the Ukraine-controlled portion of the Donetsk oblast).
Balakliia housed large stockpiles of ammunition for the Ukrainian armed forces. In 2017, an explosion at the arms depot occurred, which Ukrainian officials suspected was an act of sabotage. How much of the storage was restored and operational as of 2022 remains unknown.
On 26 February 2022, Russian troops advanced toward Balakliia. According to available sources, over 60 units of Russian military equipment, marked with the letter “Z” and tricolour symbols, moved toward the town. On 2 March 2022, Russian forces entered Balakliia.
The occupation of Balakliia began on 3 March 2022 and lasted for more than six months. During this period, the Russian military established control over the town’s infrastructure, imposed martial law and engaged in actions that amounted to war crimes.
The Ukrainian Kharkiv counteroffensive began on 6 September 2022, and Balakliia was fully liberated on 8 September. This allowed Ukrainian authorities, including local investigators, to access the town and uncover evidence of human rights abuses and war crimes committed by Russian forces.