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/* WWII: Battle of Kharkov */
{{See also|Izium-Kharkiv front}}
==History of Kharkov==Defeat in [[World War I]] and the revolutions of 1917 destroyed the [[Russian empire]]. The Ukrainian elite declared statehood: the Ukrainian People's Republic was proclaimed at [[Kiev]] on Nov. 20, 1917, becoming independent on Jan. 22, 1918. The West Ukrainian People's Republic was proclaimed at [[Lvov]] on Nov. 1, 1918. A rival Ukrainian Soviet Republic was established at Kharkov on Dec. 24, 1917. On Jan. 22, 1919, the two republics united. [[Vladimir Lenin]] gave Ukraine Kharkov, [[Donbass]], and the coastal oblasts, making it an artificial state in the style of the [[EU]].<ref>https://russophile.org/is-ukraine-an-artificial-state-popular-youtuber-says-yes/</ref><ref>https://orientalreview.org/2017/08/21/ukraines-misunderstanding-lenin-helps-explain-americas-fight-re-invented-historical-statues/</ref><ref>https://russian-faith.com/persecution/struggle-russian-christian-faith-europe-carpatho-russians-n1122</ref><ref>https://www.sott.net/article/391652-The-history-of-Ukraine-as-an-artificial-state</ref> By then, however, the military situation was desperate, as [[Polish]] and [[Bolshevik]] armies pressed the Ukrainian nationalists from west and east and the peasant [[anarchist]]s led by Nestor Makhno took control of large areas. Because [[communist]] theory denies the existence of [[race]] as the adherents flip flop to favor one group over another, Lenin made the [[Soviet Union]] autonomous republics so not one ethnic group will have too much power. ===WWII: Battle of Kharkov===
{{See also|Operation Barbarossa}}
As the Germans advanced on Moscow in the summer of 1941, and against the advice of the German High Command, [[Hitler]] suddenly detoured the center line of advance south, creating a huge traffic jam as the central column had to cross the southern advance. This slowed the advance on [[Moscow]] to which they did not arrive until October 16, 1941, as the snowy season set in.
