<P> In November 1237, Batu Khan sent his envoys to the court of Yuri II of Vladimir and demanded his submission . A month later, the hordes besieged Ryazan . After six days of bloody battle, the city was totally annihilated . Alarmed by the news, Yuri II sent his sons to detain the invaders, but they were soundly defeated . Having burnt down Kolomna and Moscow, the horde laid siege to Vladimir on February 4, 1238 . Three days later, the capital of Vladimir - Suzdal was taken and burnt to the ground . The royal family perished in the fire, while the grand prince retreated northward . Crossing the Volga, he mustered a new army, which was encircled and totally annihilated by the Mongols in the Battle of the Sit River on March 4 . </P> <P> Thereupon Batu Khan divided his army into smaller units, which ransacked fourteen cities of modern - day Russia: Rostov, Uglich, Yaroslavl, Kostroma, Kashin, Ksnyatin, Gorodets, Galich, Pereslavl - Zalessky, Yuriev - Polsky, Dmitrov, Volokolamsk, Tver, and Torzhok . Chinese siege engines were used by the Mongols under Tului to raze the walls of Russian cities . The most difficult to take was the small town of Kozelsk, whose boy - prince Vasily, son of Titus, and inhabitants resisted the Mongols for seven weeks, killing 4,000 . As the story goes, at the news of the Mongol approach, the whole town of Kitezh with all its inhabitants was submerged into a lake, where, as legend has it, it may be seen to this day . The only major cities to escape destruction were Novgorod and Pskov . The Mongols planned to advance on Novgorod, but the principality was spared the fate of its brethren by the wise decision to preemptively surrender . </P> <P> In mid-1238, Batu Khan devastated the Crimea and pacified Mordovia . In the winter of 1239, he sacked Chernigov and Pereyaslav . After many days of siege, the horde stormed Kiev in December 1240 . Despite the resistance of Danylo of Halych, Batu Khan managed to take two of his principal cities, Halych and Volodymyr - Volynskyi . The Mongols then resolved to "reach the ultimate sea", where they could proceed no further, and invaded Hungary and Poland . </P> <P> This time the invaders came to stay, and they built for themselves a capital, called Sarai, on the lower Volga . Here the commander of the Golden Horde, as the western section of the Mongol empire was called, fixed his golden headquarters and represented his sovereign the grand khan who lived with the Great Horde in the Orkhon Valley . Here they had their headquarters and held parts of Rus' in subjection for nearly three centuries . All of the Russian states, including Novgorod, Smolensk, Galich, and Pskov, submitted to the Tatar - Mongol rule . </P>

Who led the mongols into russia and conquered kiev