Moscow completely misjudged Ukraine, issuing some invading soldiers with parade dress to march down Kyiv’s main street
ordered the invasion of Ukraine, a small group of western intelligence officers were briefing on the Russian military plan. On a quiet table, in an unfashionable chain restaurant in London, an astonishing strategy was recounted: ato surround Kyiv and Ukraine’s other big cities, followed by a “kill list” operation run by Russian FSB intelligence to eliminate Ukraine’s national and local leaders.
Russia had launched its invasion a day earlier, and control of the capital was everything. As Oleksii Reznikov, Ukraine’s defence minister, remembers, many in the west, as well as the Kremlin, thought Ukraine would collapse quickly – “that during 72 hours, Kyiv will fall down”. For all the intelligence help, Ukraine’s forces had been lightly armed by the west, with US Javelin and UK NLAW anti-tank weapons designed for a guerrilla campaign against an occupying force.
The strategic airbase, 15 miles north-west of the capital, was captured on 25 February by Russian paratroopers, landing in two dramatic waves of 10 helicopters each. But a lack of air support meant that Ukraine’s nearby ground defences were largely intact, and so were able to prevent hundreds of Russian reinforcements from landing.
“I also want to emphasise the feat of our Hostomel brigade, 150 people, who were not fighters. There had been a rotation, and those that were combat-ready had been sent to the east,” the commander said. Had the guards and their reinforcements not acted to stop transport planes landing, Antonyshchak added, “the road to Kyiv would have been open”.
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