The Battle of the Neva (Russian: Невская битва, Nevskaya bitva, Swedish: slaget vid Neva) was fought between the Novgorod Republic and Swedish armies on the Neva River, near the settlement of Ust-Izhora, on July 15, 1240. The purpose of the Swedish invasion was probably to gain control over the mouth of the Neva and the city of Ladoga and, hence, seize the most important part of the Trade Route from the Varangians to the Greeks, which had been under Novgorod's control for more than a hundred years.