The city remained under Romanian control until 28 June 1940, when along with Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina it was occupied by the Soviet Union. In August 1940, Soviets created the Chernivtsi Oblast, and included the area around Khotyn to it, which became part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, not of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, as the rest of Bessarabia. After Operation Barbarossa, where Romania acted as a Germany ally, the area was retaken by Romania in early July 1941. In March 1944, with the defeat of the Axis forces, the town was retaken by the Soviets, and reattached to Soviet Ukraine.