The Russians were led by Alexander Suvorov, who had defeated the Ottomans at Kinburn, Focsani, and Rymnik, as well as participating in the siege of Ochakov.

[18][19] Suvorov gave Commander-in-Chief Potemkin advice regarding subsequent military operations; "rowing fleet should seize the Danube Delta, take Tulcha and Isaktcha, together with ground troops to conquer Izmail and Brailov and put a tremor on Sistovo".

Most of this task was accomplished without special effort; by the end of November, the small fortresses of Kilia,[k] Tulcea, and Isaktcha were in Russian hands, and the Ottoman rowing flotillas had been annihilated.

There remained the formidable stronghold of Izmail,[20] "the key to the Danube",[13] built under the direction of German and French engineers, in the region of Budjak (now in Ukraine).

[1][6] The siege of Izmail in December 1790 was undertaken due to order of the supreme commander of the Russian Southern Army, General-Feldmarshal Grigory Potyomkin, – commonly known as Potemkin, – appointing a new leader of the Izmailian forces.

Neither Nikolay Repnin (1789), nor Ivan Gudovich, replaced by Samoylov, nor Pavel Potyomkin (November, 1790) were able to meet the challenge, failing the siege either through lack of overall command, or the sluggishness, or the indecisiveness on the part of their troops or themselves; after which Grigory Potyomkin assigned the task of supervising the troops assembled at Izmail to General-in-Chief Count Suvorov-Rymniksky, who was then watching Galatz and Brailov with his corps.

Every soldier understood what the denouement of the inaction would be, and one of the top officials in his private letter expressed himself: "as soon as Suvorov arrives, the fortress will be stormed".

Afterwards, they tried to besiege Giurgiu stronghold: at first things went well for the Austrians there, but the Ottomans, in Prince of Coburg's absence, made a very successful sortie that spoilt the whole affair.

[22][23] The affair at Giurgiu was a mere private failure, which, at the end of the same month of June, General Clerfayt partly made up for by a victory over the Turks at Calafat.

His troops were positioned in a semicircle 2.1 kilometres (1.3 mi) from the fortress; their flanks rested on the river, where Deribas' flotilla and the detachment on Çatal Island (5 battalions of infantry with 8 artillery batteries) started the blockade.

Field artillery had no more than one set of ammunition; there was an extreme shortage of food, which could not be replenished due to winter conditions and lack of time; there were many sick soldiers.

[citation needed] On the early dusky morning of 22 December 1790, the Russians hoped to take their enemy by surprise,[7] however, information about Suvorov's plans of assault was leaked to the Turkish camp.

[citation needed] The Russians began the assault on Izmail, which had a garrison of 35,000 soldiers[10] (or 40,000[6]), of which around 15,000 regular troops and ~20,000 militias,[12] under the leadership of Aydoslu Mehmed Pasha, a firm, resolute, and battle-tested commander.

Lvov's column failed to take Tabia redoubt, despite the heroism of Suvorov's Phanagorian grenadiers and Apsheron riflemen, who "fought like lions", repelling a raid, and took possession of the first batteries, but no more;[25] Lacy was wounded and Colonel Zolotukhin took command, managing to take Bros and Khota gates and join Lacy's column.

Meknob's column had the hardest time, attacking the large bastion in the northwestern corner of the fortress, the one next to it to the east, and the curtain wall between them (instead of the curtain wall assigned to it by the disposition); here the rampart had a small height, and the serasker himself defended this section with elite Janissaries; but, despite the enormous losses, the troops of the column, under Colonel Khvostov, who replaced the wounded Meknob, brilliantly accomplished the task.

Platov, advancing along the ravine, met an obstacle — a curtain wall, which, crossing the stream flowing through the ravine, formed a dam, waist-deep; Cossacks crossed in the ford and, with the help of infantry battalion sent to their aid, seized the curtain wall; after that part of Platov's troops moved to support Orlov's column, while another part got in contact with Arsenyev's column.

Deribas' detachment about 7 am, despite the resistance of 10,000 Turks and Crimean Tatars, successfully made the landing and seized the points assigned to him by disposition.

[1][13] By 8 a.m. the Russian troops firmly established themselves on the ramparts of Izmail; the Bros, Khota, and Bender gates were opened, and the cavalry reserves entered the fortress.

[1][6] The first to step on the fortress walls was Major Nekludov;[10] and after a short rest, the assault columns from different sides moved toward the center of the city.

Soldiers broke into houses and seized all kinds of property, — rich clothes, precious weapons, jewelry; merchants' shops were smashed, and over their owners' corpses the new masters sought the spoils; many houses stood dilapidated, their inhabitants lay in blood, screams for help, cries of despair, the wheezing of the dying were heard everywhere; the conquered city presented a terrifying sight.

There were so many Turkish corpses that there was no way to bury all the dead, and yet their decomposition could lead to the spread of infection; therefore, it was ordered to throw the bodies into the Danube and prisoners were used for this work, divided into turns.

The Sistova conferences were interrupted (representatives of the European powers negotiated with the Ottoman Empire[36]); the Turks began to flee from Maçin and Babadag; in Bucharest they simply did not believe what had happened, and in Brailov, despite the 12-thousand garrison, "the inhabitants asked the pasha to surrender when the Russian (troops) approached the fortress, so that they would not suffer the same fate as Izmail".

Therefore, fear and despondency prevailed in the Turkish capital, every minute expected outrage; it was strictly forbidden to talk about the actions of the Russians; when the rumor of the capture of Izmail did spread, the excitement of the people reached extreme proportions.