Chortkiv offensive

Part of Polish-Ukrainian War

Date	7–28 June 1919
Location	Eastern Galicia
Result	Tactical Polish victory

Belligerents

West Ukrainian National Republic

Second Polish Republic

Commanders and leaders

Oleksander Hrekov

Józef Piłsudski
Józef Haller

Strength

19,000

100,000

The Chortkiv offensive (Ukrainian: Чортківська офензива) (7–28 June 1919), sometimes also referred to as the June Offensive, was a surprise military operation by the Ukrainian Galician Army (UHA) on the newly founded Second Polish Republic Polish-Ukrainian War for Eastern Galicia.

The disputed territory was claimed by the nascent Ukrainian state, the Western Ukrainian People's Republic, which also was disputed by the Ukrainian Peoples Republic and the recently re-established Poland. The area claimed between these three groups was a mixture of Polish, Ukrainian, Jewish peoples intermixed throughout the area.

The attack was initially successful, with Ukrainian forces successfully taking a vast swathe of territory, however in the end the offensive was repelled by the overwhelming numerical superiority of the Polish forces that pushed the Ukrainians back. Eventually, the interwar future of Galicia was decided at the Allied Council of Foreign Ministers that officially hostilities were ceased, however operations existed all the way to the Zbruch River.

The goal of the Chortkiv offensive was to push the Polish army back to the Zolota Lypa River in order to improve morale among the Ukrainian army and locals by mobilizing a larger army to push the Poles back past Lvov, Przemysl, Chelm, Lublin, and other claimed territories by the Western Ukrainian Republic.

On 8 June the 19,000 strong UHA assaulted the city of Chortkiv, forcing the Poles to retreat to the Holohory–Peremyshliany–Bukachivtsi line. Under the command of Oleksander Hrekov, the Ukrainians came close to Lviv, the main city of the province, which was their greatest success.

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