Sviatoslav I of Kiev
In 965, Sviatoslav I of Kiev finally went to war against Khazaria. He employed Oghuz and Pecheneg mercenaries in this campaign, perhaps to counter the Khazars' superior cavalry. Sviatoslav destroyed the Khazar city of Sarkel around 965, and possibly sacked (but did not occupy) the Khazar city of Kerch on the Crimea. He subsequently (probably in 968 or 969) destroyed the Khazar capital of Atil. A visitor to Atil wrote soon after Sviatoslav's campaign: "The Rus' attacked, and no grape or raisin remained, not a leaf on a branch." Ibn Hawqal is the only author who reports the sack of Semender, after which the Rus' departed for "Rûm and al-Andaluz".