page_title: Kiev Offensive (1920)
section_title: Polish advance
hierarchical_section_title: Kiev Offensive (1920) / Battle / Polish advance
caption_attribution_description: English: Polish infantry entering Kiev during Polsih-Soviet war, 7th of May 1920
context_page_description: The 1920 Kiev Offensive, sometimes considered to have started the Polish–Soviet War, was an attempt by the armed forces of the newly re-emerged Poland led by Józef Piłsudski, in alliance with the Ukrainian leader Symon Petliura, to seize the territories of modern-day Ukraine which fell under the Soviet control after the Bolshevik Revolution. The operation led to a Soviet counteroffensive resulting in the creation of the short-lived Galician Soviet Socialist Republic, and ended amicably with the formal Peace of Riga of 1921.
  The stated goal of the operation was to create a formally independent Ukraine. Some Ukrainians greeted the Polish and allied Ukrainian forces as liberators, although Ukrainians fought for both sides of the conflict.
  The campaign was conducted from April to June 1920. It was a major military operation of the Polish Army thanks to new alliance with the forces of the Ukrainian People's Republic under the exiled Ukrainian leader Symon Petliura. It was opposed by the Soviets who claimed most of the territories for the Ukrainian SSR afterwards.
context_section_description: Pilsudski's forces were divided into three armies. Arranged from north to south, they were the 3rd, 2nd and 6th, with Petliura's forces attached to the 6th army.  Facing them were the Soviet 12th and 14th armies led by Alexander Ilyich Yegorov. Pilsudski struck on April 25, and captured Zhytomyr the following day.  Within a week, the Soviet 12th army was largely destroyed.  In the south, the Polish 6th Army and Petliura's forces pushed the Soviet 14th army out of central Ukraine as they quickly marched eastward through Vinnytsia. However the Bolshevik army, although having suffered some defeats, avoided total destruction. The Polish offensive stopped at Kiev and only a small bridgehead was established on the eastern bank of the Dnieper. The combined Polish-Ukrainian forces entered Kiev on May 7, encountering only token resistance. On May 9 the Polish troops celebrated the capture of Kiev with the victory parade on Kreschatyk, the city's main street. Following this parade, however, all Polish forces were withdrawn from the city and control was given to the Ukrainian 6th division under the control of Petlura's Ukrainian government.
  On April 26, in his "Call to the People of Ukraine", Piłsudski assured that "the Polish army would only stay as long as necessary until a legal Ukrainian government took control over its own territory". Many Ukrainians were both anti-Polish and anti-Bolshevik, and were suspicious of the Poles. The Soviet propaganda also had the effect of encouraging negative Ukrainian sentiment towards the Polish operation and Polish-Ukrainian history in general.
  The success of the joint Polish-Ukrainian political campaign depended on the creation of a strong Ukrainian army capable of defeating the Soviets in Ukraine. While initially successful, the campaign ultimately failed. The local population was tired of hostilities after several years of war and the Ukrainian Army never exceeded two divisions largely due to the ambivalent attitude of Ukrainians towards the alliance. Petliura was only able to recruit 20,000–30,000 additional soldiers into his army, a number insufficient to hold back the Soviet forces.
caption: Polish soldiers in Kiev in May 1920
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