What the Kharkiv collapse meant for Russia's war, 12 September 2022
A look back at the day Ukrainian advances deepened while Russian municipal deputies called for Putin's resignation.
What did it mean when Russia's hold on Kharkiv Oblast began to unravel? By 12 September 2022, the evidence was mounting on several fronts at once, and it was already hard to read the moment as an ordinary shift in the front line.
The Ukrainian counteroffensive in Kharkiv Oblast had begun on 6 September 2022, alongside a separate push in the south around Kherson. Within days, the results in the northeast were striking. On 10 September, Ukrainian troops retook Balakliia, Kupiansk and Izium. The Russian Defence Ministry confirmed the withdrawal of troops from several towns in the oblast, describing it as a move to let its forces regroup and reinforce the Donbas.
A day of further gains
On 12 September, Ukrainian forces said they had seized 20 more settlements in the previous 24 hours, Dvorichna among them, and claimed to have captured many Russian prisoners of war. The Ukrainian general staff also reported that Russian troops had abandoned Svatove in Luhansk Oblast as Ukrainian forces advanced.
The day before, Russian forces had withdrawn from most of Kharkiv Oblast, and Ukrainian soldiers had retaken Chkalovske and Velykyi Burluk. Vyacheslav Gladkov, Governor of Belgorod Oblast, said that thousands of civilians were fleeing across the border into his region.
Strikes on infrastructure
Russia answered on 11 September with Kalibr cruise missile strikes on critical infrastructure, including Kharkiv TEC-5. The strikes caused a total blackout and water shutdown in northeastern Ukraine and in the Kharkiv and Donetsk oblasts. Ukrainian officials confirmed that at least 40 electrical substations had been destroyed.
Pressure inside Russia
The consequences were visible beyond the battlefield. On 12 September, more than 30 municipal deputies of Russian cities signed a petition calling for President Vladimir Putin's resignation, amid the substantial Ukrainian advances. The same day, multiple explosions were reported near Taganrog in Rostov Oblast, Russia.
Later accounts placed these events in a longer arc. The occupation of Kharkiv Oblast had begun on 24 February 2022, and Russian forces had held major towns including Izium, Kupiansk and Balakliia. Later still, from November 2022, Russia occupied only a small portion of the oblast.
For a reader looking back, the significance of 12 September lies in the combination: territory changing hands quickly, civilians moving across a border, a strike campaign against power and water, and an unusual public challenge to Russia's leader from local politicians. Each of these was reported on that date, and together they marked the pace of events in the war's seventh month.
