The Group of Forces for Combating Counter-Revolution in the South of Russia (Russian: Группа войск по борьбе с контрреволюцией на Юге России, romanized: Gruppa voysk po bor'be s kontrrevolyutsiyey na Yuge Rossii) was a military formation of the Soviet Russian government created in the beginning of December 1917 to invade and occupy various autonomous state formations (the Don Host Oblast and Ukrainian People's Republic) with a goal of establishing the Soviet government.

[clarification needed] The formation mainly consisted of Red Guard troops from Petrograd and Moscow under the command of Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko and Mikhail Muravyov as the chief of staff.

By that time the Soviet government of Russia had concluded a provisional armistice agreement with the Central Powers, seeking to end its participation in World War I (see Treaty of Brest-Litovsk).

In January 1918, under the pretense of helping the Bolsheviks of Ukraine in establishing Soviet power, the group launched an offensive from multiple directions (Kharkiv and Katerynoslav, Bryansk, Homel) against Kiev.

The Moscow Red Guard squads led by Yegorov, while traveling from the Lozova Rail Station, intercepted a heavy siege battery of the opponent that was sent to Poltava from Novocherkassk.

Bērziņš's unit consisted of 3,500 Red Guards and soldiers, four artillery batteries, and an armored train (Putilov plant) with a team of 77 people and 16 machine guns.

On February 6, 1918, the command of the Soviet forces reported back to Lenin in Petrograd that street fighting was taking place in Kiev and the Red Guards were suffering great losses.