Regions under pressure: Ukraine's front-line cities on 28 February 2022
From Kharkiv to Zaporizhzhia Oblast, reports from 28 February 2022 and the days before showed regional authorities and the army contesting claims of control.
What did the map of regional control look like on 28 February 2022? Reports from that day and the preceding days described a country whose regions were being hit, claimed and contested, often with competing accounts of who held what.
Kharkiv under rocket fire
On 28 February 2022, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry said dozens of people were killed and hundreds injured in a massive multiple-launch rocket attack on Kharkiv. Videos appeared to show cluster munitions being used. The day before, on 27 February, regional governor Oleh Synyehubov had announced that Ukraine remained in control of Kharkiv, while the Ukrainian Army said it remained in control of Kyiv.
Also on 27 February, Russian ground forces were reported to have begun targeting gas and oil pipelines outside Kharkiv and Kyiv in an attempt to incapacitate defences, with multiple explosions reported at an oil depot near Vasylkiv in Kyiv Oblast.
Disputed claims in the south
In Zaporizhzhia Oblast, the Russian Defence Ministry said on 28 February that its ground forces had captured the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant and that operations there continued normally under the guard of soldiers. Ukraine denied that the plant had been seized.
The pattern of contested claims had appeared earlier. On 26 February, the Russian Armed Forces reported capturing Melitopol, also in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, a claim that was disputed. Russian state media said troops had entered the city after facing no resistance. On 27 February, the mayor of Berdiansk said Russian troops had entered the port city and seized all administrative buildings.
Local officials and accountability
The role of local leaders also came into focus. On 28 February, Ukrainian officials indicted Hennadiy Matsehora, the mayor of Kupiansk, for treason. He had surrendered the city to the Russians in exchange for peace the previous day.
Strikes beyond the front
The same day, Russia attacked Zhytomyr Airport using Iskander ballistic missiles launched from Belarus. Missile attacks on Zhytomyr had, according to later accounts, begun on 24 February 2022.
In Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine's army had claimed on 26 February that its air defences shot down two Russian Ilyushin Il-76 transport planes carrying paratroopers near Vasylkiv and Bila Tserkva, along with a Sukhoi Su-25 attack jet. It provided no video evidence or crash-site details. On 27 February, Ukraine's military said it had destroyed a convoy of 56 tanks near Kyiv and killed Chechen General Magomed Tushayev.
Taken together, the reports from 26 to 28 February 2022 showed regions where control was asserted by one side and denied by the other, and where regional and municipal authorities were at the centre of events.
