Grayvoronsky District

Grayvoronsky District (Грайворо́нский райо́н) is an administrative district (raion), one of the twenty-one in Belgorod Oblast, Russia. Municipally, it is incorporated as Grayvoronsky Municipal District. It is located in the west of the oblast. The area of the district is 853.8 km2. Its administrative center is the town of Grayvoron. Population: 31,567 (2002 Census). The population of Grayvoron accounts for 21.4% of the district's total population.

History
The district was formerly part of Grayvoronsky Uyezd, which had an area of about 3000 km2.

Russian invasion
In May 2023, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the governor of Belgorod Oblast, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said that Ukrainian "sabotage groups" entered the district from Ukraine. Ukrainian media reported that the cross-border excursion was performed by Russian rebel opposition groups, the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Freedom of Russia Legion.

According to the Washington Post, between April 2023 and April 2024, at least 11 of Russian glide bombs crashed into the district where some could not be recovered because of the "difficult operational situation."

Geography
Grayvoronsky District sits at the southwest corner of Belgorod Oblast, on the border with Ukraine. It is bordered on the south and west by Kharkiv Oblast and Sumy Oblast (both of Ukraine), on the north by Krasnogvardeysky District, Belgorod Oblast and Rakityansky District, and on the east by Borisovsky District. The administrative center of the district is the town of Grayvoron. The district is 50 km west of the city of Belgorod, and is 55 km northwest of the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.

The terrain is a hilly plain averaging 200 m above sea level; the district lies on the Orel-Kursk plateau of the Central Russian Upland. The major river through the district is the Vorskla River, which flows east to west through the district, eventually joining the Dnieper River.