The Kiev Military District (Киевский вое́нный о́круг) (KVO) was a Russian unit of military-administrative division (a military district) of the Imperial Russian Army and subsequently of the Ukrainian Army, Red Army, and Soviet Armed Forces. It was first formed in 1862. On most of its territory currently there is the Territorial Directorate "North" of Ukraine.
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The Kiev Military District was a Military District, a territorial division type utilised to provide a more efficient management of army units, their training and other operations activities related to combat readiness. Assigned formations included the 10th Army. Commanders included Alexander Drenteln, Mikhail Ivanovich Dragomirov, Vladimir Sukhomlinov, and Nikolai Ivanov.
With the start of the World War I the district was transformed into the 3rd Army (Russia).
The district was reinstated on March 12, 1919 and then again disbanded on August 23, 1919 with the advance of the Denikin's forces.
The Kiev Military Region was formed by the Denikin's forces on August 31, 1919, but already on December 14, 1919 its forces were retrieved and merged with the Forces of Novorossiysk Region.
The District was formed again in January 1920.[1]
In the early 1920s the District included the following divisions:[2]
In April 1922 the Kiev Military District was merged with the Kharkov Military District into South-Western Military District. In June 1922 it was renamed into the Ukrainian Military District.
On May 17, 1935 the Ukrainian Military District was split between the Kharkov Military District and the Kiev Military District. On July 26, 1939 the district was renamed into the Kiev Special Military District.
When the German Operation Barbarossa began on 22 June 1941, on the base of the Kiev Special Military District was created the Soviet Southwestern Front that on September 10, 1941 completely integrated the district.
| Kiev Military District | |
|---|---|
| Active | 25 October 1943 - 1 November 1992 |
| Country | Soviet Union |
| Size | 150,000 (1990) |
| Part of | South-Western Strategic Direction |
| HQ | Kiev |
| Tanks APCs Artillery Helicopters |
1,500 1,500 700 100 |
| Engagements | World War II |
The District was formed again on 25 October 1943, with the Headquarters in Kiev.[3] In June 1946, 7 oblasts of the disbanded Kharkov Military District were added to the Kiev Military District. The District now included the oblasts (provinces) of Kiev, Cherkasy, Uman, Voroshilovgrad, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, Stalin, Sumy, Kharkiv and Chernihiv.
Units stationed in the District were 1st Guards Army and 6th Guards Tank Army. 69th Air Army was active from the early 1950s to at least 1964 in the district.(See ru:Колесник, Василий Артёмович) In 1959 the 17th Air Army was relocated to the District from Mongolia to provide air support. The 60th Corps of the 8th Air Defense Army provided air defense for the District.[4]
The 43rd Rocket Army of the Strategic Rocket Forces was formed at Vinnitsa within the District's boundaries in 1960. It comprised the 19th Rocket Division (Khmelnitsky), 37th Guards Rocket Division (Lutsk), 43rd Rocket Division (Kremenchug), 44th Rocket Division (Kolomyia, Ivano-Frankovsk Oblast, disbanded 31 March 1990. Previously 73rd Engineer Brigade RVGK at Kamyshin.),[5] and the 46th Rocket Division (Pervomaisk, Mykolaiv Oblast). The 43rd Rocket Army's last commander was Colonel-General Vladimir Alekseevich Mikhtyuk, who served from 10.1.1991 to 8.5.1996.[6] It was finally disbanded on 8 May 1996.
In 1991 the district included 6th Guards Tank Army - Dnipropetrovsk, 1st Guards Army -Chernihiv, 17th Air Army, and the 60th Air Defence Corps of the 8th Air Defense Army (Soviet Air Defence Forces). Among the district's air force units were the Chernigov Higher Military Aviation School of Pilots at Chernigov.
In 1991, Colonel General Viktor S. Chechevatov was dismissed as District commander for refusing to take an oath of loyalty to Ukraine.[7] The District was disbanded after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, by 1 November 1992,[8] and its structure utilized as the basis for the new Ukrainian Ministry of Defense and General Staff.[9]