Attempt by Poland, led by Józef Piłsudski, to seize central and eastern Ukraine from Soviet control
The Kiev offensive was a major operation of the Polish-Soviet War that temporarily placed Kyiv under Polish-Ukrainian control before a Soviet counteroffensive reversed the gains.
Key Facts
- Campaign duration
- April to July 1920
- Kiev captured
- 7 May 1920
- Key alliance
- Treaty of Warsaw (Poland & Ukrainian People's Republic)
- War concluded by
- Peace of Riga, 1921
- Soviet counterforce
- 1st Cavalry Army of Semyon Budyonny
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Following Soviet seizure of Ukrainian territories after the October Revolution and inconclusive 1919 border fighting, Józef Piłsudski sought to establish a Polish-led Intermarium federation. He aimed to destroy Soviet armies in central Ukraine and force unilateral peace terms, signing the Treaty of Warsaw with Symon Petliura's Ukrainian People's Republic as a precondition.
From April to July 1920, Polish and allied Ukrainian forces launched a large-scale military campaign into Soviet-held Ukraine. The allied armies captured Kyiv on 7 May 1920, initially achieving significant territorial gains. However, a vigorous Red Army counteroffensive, spearheaded by Budyonny's 1st Cavalry Army, rapidly reversed these advances and pushed forces back westward.
The Soviet counteroffensive drove Polish and Ukrainian forces from Kyiv and briefly gave rise to the Galician Soviet Socialist Republic. The conflict ultimately ended with the Peace of Riga in 1921, which fixed the border between Poland and the Russian Soviet Republic and ended prospects for Piłsudski's envisioned Intermarium federation in its originally conceived form.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
2 belligerents
Józef Piłsudski, Symon Petliura.
Side B
1 belligerent
Semyon Budyonny.