List of massacres in Ukraine
This is a list of massacres that have occurred in the modern day areas of Ukraine.
Massacres until 1939
| Name | Date | Location | Perpetrators | Deaths | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Siege of Kyiv[1] | November 28–December 6, 1240 | Kyiv | Mongol Empire | 48,000[2] | The Mongols under Batu Khan cross the frozen Dnieper River and lay siege to the city of Kiev. On December 6, the walls are rendered rubble by Chinese catapults and the Mongols pour into the city. Brutal hand-to-hand street fighting occurs, the Kievans are eventually forced to fall back to the central parts of the city. Many people take refuge in the Church of the Blessed Virgin. As scores of terrified Kievans climb onto the Church's upper balcony to shield themselves from Mongol arrows, their collective weight strain its infrastructure, causing the roof to collapse and crush countless citizens under its weight. Of a total population of 50,000, 48,000 are massacred.[1] |
| Khmelnytsky pogroms (Tach Vetat) | 1648–1649 | Nationwide | Cossacks | 20,000–100,000 Jews | See Jewish casualties of Tach Vetat for discussion of various estimates of the number of murdered |
| Batih massacre | June 3–4, 1652 | Batih | Cossacks | 3,500–8,000 Polish POWs | Also known as the "Sarmatian Katyń" |
| Kaffa massacre | October 1667 | Kaffa | Cossacks | 2,000 Crimean Tatars | The city was sacked by the Cossacks, with 2,000 Crimean Tatars massacred, along with 1,500 Crimean Tatar women and children taken captive |
| Arbautuk massacre | October 1667 | Arbautuk | Cossacks | Thousands of Crimean Tatars | |
| Sack of Baturyn | November 2, 1708 | Baturyn | Russian Empire | ~7,000-15,000 Ukrainians | After the capture of the city, its entire civil population was massacred by Russian forces |
| Executions of Cossacks in Lebedyn | 1708-1709 | Lebedyn | Russian Empire | 900 | Executions of pro-Swedish Cossacks who betrayed the oath of allegiance to the Russian Tsar |
| Massacre of Uman | June 1768 | Uman | Ukrainian rebels | 2,000–33,000 Jews and Poles | Massacre of the Jews, Poles and Ukrainian Uniates by haidamaks |
| Kiev pogrom (1881) | May 7, 1881 | Kyiv | Unknown | ||
| Odessa pogrom (1905) | October 18 and 22, 1905 | Odesa | Ethnic Russian, Ukrainian, and Greek rioters | 400–1,000 Jews | Between 18 and 22 October 1905, ethnic Russians, Ukrainians, and Greeks killed over 400 to 1.000 Jews and damaged or destroyed over 1600 Jewish properties. |
| Kiev pogrom (1905) | October 31–November 2, 1905 | Kyiv | Ethnic Russian, Ukrainian, etc. rioters | 100 Jews | |
| Pogroms of the Russian Civil War | 1918–1923 | Ukraine and Southern Russia | AFSR, White movement (17-50% of killings)[3][4]: 45 [5] Green armies Red Army |
50,000–250,000 Jews | Including Jews who were massacred in Southern Russia |
| Lwów pogrom | 21-23 November 1918 | Lviv | Polish army | 340 Jews and Ukrainians | |
| Fastiv massacre | September 1919 | Fastiv | White Army | 1,000–1,500 Jews | Pogrom against the Jewish population of city of Fastov by units of the White Army. |
| Eichenfeld massacre | November 1919 | Eichenfeld, Katerynoslav | Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine | 136 Mennonites | |
| Berdychiv massacre (1920) | 7 June 1920 | Berdychiv | 1st Cavalry Army | Hundreds of wounded Polish and Ukrainian soldiers, Red Cross workers and nuns. | Victims were burned alive in a hospital.[8] |
| Vinnytsia massacre | 1937–1938 | Vinnytsia | Soviet Union | 9,432 Ukrainians and Poles | Part of the Great Purge. |
Massacres during World War II
| Name | Date | Location | Perpetrators | Deaths | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Katyn massacre | April–May 1940 | Kharkiv, Kherson, Kyiv | Soviet Union | 7,247 Poles | 7,247 of the 22,000 victims of the massacre were murdered in the three Ukrainians cities.[9] | |
| Lunca massacre | February 7, 1941 | Lunca | Soviet Union | Over 600 | Massacre of Romanians | |
| Fântâna Albă massacre | April 1, 1941 | Fântâna Albă | Soviet Union | 44 (Soviet & Russian claim) 3,000 (Romanian claim) |
Massacre of Romanians | |
| NKVD prisoner massacres in Ukraine | June–November 1941 | In 78 prisons across Ukraine | Soviet Union | Almost 9,000 | By Stalin's orders | |
| Lviv pogroms (1941) | June 1941 – July 1941 | Lviv | OUN-B, Einsatzgruppen, Ukrainian nationalists, local crowds |
6,000 Jews | ||
| Kamianets-Podilskyi massacre | August 27–28, 1941 | Kamianets-Podilskyi | Nazi Germany Ukrainian Auxiliary Police |
23,600 Jews | ||
| Pavoloch massacre | September 5, 1941 | Pavoloch | Nazi Germany | 1,500 Jews | ||
| Nikolaev massacre | September 16–30, 1941 | Mykolaiv | Nazi Germany | 35,782 mostly Jews | ||
| Babi Yar massacre | September 29–30, 1941 | Babi Yar | Nazi Germany | 33,771 Jews | ||
| Berdychiv massacre (1941) | October 5, 1941 | Berdychiv | Nazi Germany | 20,000–38,536 Jews | ||
| 1941 Odessa massacre | October 22–24, 1941 | Odesa | Nazi Germany Kingdom of Romania local crowds |
25,000–100,000 Jews | ||
| Drobitsky Yar | December 15, 1941 | Kharkiv | Nazi Germany | 15,000 Jews | ||
| Artemivsk massacre | January 11, 1942 | Artemivsk (now Bakhmut) | Nazi Germany | 1,317–3,000 Jews | ||
| Sernyky massacre | 1942 | Sernyky | Nazi Germany | 553 Jews | ||
| Sarny massacre | August 27–28, 1942 | Sarny | Nazi Germany | 14,000–18,000 Jews | ||
| Massacre of Grischino | February 1943 | Pokrovsk | Soviet Union | 596 POWs and prisoners | Massacre of Germans, Italians, Romanians, Ukrainians, Hungarians, and Danes. | |
| Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia | March 1943 – December 1944 | Volhynia | Ukrainian Insurgent Army | 60,000–100,000 Poles | ||
| Koriukivka massacre | March 1–2, 1943 | Koriukivka | Nazi Germany Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946) |
6,700 | ||
| Remel massacre | March 17, 1943 | Remel | Schutzmannschaft Battalion 202 | 400 | Revenge for Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia | |
| Janowa Dolina massacre | April 23, 1943 | Janowa Dolina | Ukrainian nationalists | 600+ Poles | ||
| Hurby massacre | June 2, 1943 | Hurby | Ukrainian Insurgent Army | 250 Poles | ||
| Dominopol massacre | July 11, 1943 | Dominopol | Ukrainian Insurgent Army | 490 Poles | ||
| Gurów massacre | July 11, 1943 | Gurów | Ukrainian Insurgent Army | 410 Poles | ||
| Poryck massacre | July 11, 1943 | Poryck | Ukrainian Insurgent Army | 300 Poles | ||
| Zagaje massacre | July 11–12, 1943 | Zagaje | Ukrainian Insurgent Army | 260–350 Poles | ||
| Malin massacre | July 13, 1943 | Malyn | Nazi Germany Schutzmannschaft (disputed between Polish and Ukrainian) |
532-850 | In the massacre, approximately 374 Czechs,124 Ukrainians and 26 Poles were killed | |
| Leonówka massacre | August 1-2, 1943 | Leonówka, Tuchyn | Ukrainian Insurgent Army | 190 Poles | ||
| Budy Ossowskie massacre | August 29, 1943 | Budy Ossowskie | Ukrainian Insurgent Army | 290 Poles | ||
| Głęboczyca massacre | August 29, 1943 | Głęboczyca | Ukrainian Insurgent Army | 250 Poles | ||
| Teresin massacre | August 29, 1943 | Teresin, Włodzimierz County | Ukrainian Insurgent Army | 207 Poles | ||
| Wola Ostrowiecka massacre | August 30, 1943 | Wola Ostrowiecka | Ukrainian Insurgent Army | 529 Poles | ||
| Huta Pieniacka massacre | February 28, 1944 | Huta Pieniacka | Ukrainian nationalists | 500–1,200 Poles | ||
| Chodaczków Wielki massacre | April 16, 1944 | Chodaczków Wielki | 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Galician) | 862 Poles |
Massacres in the post-WWII period
| Name | Date | Location | Perpetrators | Deaths | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kerch Polytechnic College massacre | October 17, 2018 | Kerch, Crimea | Vladislav Roslyakov | 21 | School shooting and nail-bomb attack |
| Bucha massacre | March 2022 | Bucha, Kyiv Oblast | Russia | 73-178+ (UN)/ 458 (Ukraine) | Killing of Ukrainian civilians during the Russian occupation |
| Olenivka prison massacre | 29 July 2022 | Molodizhne, Donetsk Oblast | Russia | 53–62 POWs | during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a building housing Ukrainian prisoners of war in a Russian-operated prison in Molodizhne near Olenivka, Donetsk Oblast, was destroyed, killing 53 to 62 Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) and leaving 75 to 130 wounded.[10] |
| Volnovakha massacre | 27 October 2023 | Volnovakha | Russia | 9 | including two children |
Other events
These events involving multiple deaths in Ukraine are not widely known, or recognized, as 'massacres'.
See also
References
- ^ a b Perfecky, George (1973). The Hypatian Codex. Munich, Germany: Wilhelm Fink Publishing House. pp. 43–49.
- ^ Davison, Derek (6 December 2019). "Today in European history: the Mongols sack Kyiv (1240)". fx.substack.com. Retrieved 2020-07-30.
- ^ Budnitskii, Oleg (2012). Russian Jews Between the Reds and the Whites, 1917-1920. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 217. ISBN 978-0-8122-0814-6.
- ^ Midlarsky, M.I. (2005). The Killing Trap: Genocide in the Twentieth Century. Cambridge University Press. pp. 44–51. ISBN 0-521-81545-2. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
- ^ "YIVO | Russian Civil War". yivoencyclopedia.org. Retrieved 2022-11-08.
- ^ a b Budnitskii 2012, p. 217; Midlarsky 2005, p. 45.
- ^ a b "YIVO | Russian Civil War". yivoencyclopedia.org. Retrieved 2022-11-08.
- ^ Łukasz Zalesiński. "Lato z czerwonym terrorem". Polska Zbrojna (in Polish). Retrieved 10 December 2023.
- ^ Zbrodnia katyńska (in Polish). Warszawa: IPN. 2020. p. 16. ISBN 978-83-8098-825-5.
- ^ "2 years after Ukrainian POW deaths, survivors and leaked UN analysis point to Russia as the culprit". Associated Press. 2024-07-25. Retrieved 2024-07-26.
- ^ Phillips, Graham (2012-11-09). "Suspected Karavan killer found dead - Nov. 09, 2012". Kyiv Post. Retrieved 2025-03-05.
- ^ Staff (2022-01-27). "Five dead in Ukraine after national guardsman opens fire at military factory". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2025-03-05.
- ^ "Cherkasy: 23 killed and nine injured in Russian air strike on Uman, 28 April - Ukraine | ReliefWeb". 2023-05-06. Archived from the original on 6 May 2023. Retrieved 2025-03-29.