Tsyrkuny

The village of Tsyrkuny is located northeast of Kharkiv, on the outskirts of the city. The village is located on the banks of the Kharkov River (Siverskyi Donets basin). Upstream, 1 km, is the village of Cherkassky Tyshky.^[5]

Tsyrkuny is located on the slopes of the Central Russian Upland, in the forest-steppe natural zone. The climate of the territory has a temperate continental type with cold winters and hot summers. The average annual temperature is +8.7 °C (in January -4.5, in July +22). The average annual precipitation is 520 mm. The greatest amount of precipitation falls in summer.^[6]

Around the village are summer cottages and broad-leaved and pine forests. To the southwest of the village passes the M03 highway (Kharkiv district road).^[7]

The village was first mentioned in 1671.^[8]

According to data from 1864, the village had a population of 2,707 people (1,255 males and 1,452 females), 278 households, and an Orthodox church.^[9]

As of 1914, the number of inhabitants was 6,416 people.^[10] During the Holodomor organized by the Soviet authorities in 1932-1933, at least 257 residents of the village died.^[11]

In September 2012, part of the village was included in the city of Kharkiv.^[12]

On 24 February 2022, the village was occupied by the Russian Armed Forces, after which it became a stronghold for tank attacks on Kharkiv and artillery shelling of the Pivtsyncha Saltivka district.^[13][14][15] Russian media outlets present this as if the Ukrainian Armed Forces were shelling the village for no reason, ignoring the fierce fighting near the Kharkiv bypass.^[16] Residents are not allowed to evacuate to the territory controlled by Ukraine, and the delivery of humanitarian aid from there is also blocked. Instead, Russian military personnel are offering residents to evacuate to the occupying country.^[17] The Russian occupiers lost control of the village on 7 May 2022.^[18] The shelling of the village continued later.^[19]