The skies round Antonov worldwide airport in Hostomel, a north-western suburb of Kyiv, had been thick with Russian mi-8 helicopters. As one got here below assault by a surface-to-air missile, it launched an explosive burst of flares. The air assault by Russia—maybe one of many largest of latest a long time—was a daring and brazen try and seize a strategic airport close to Ukraine’s capital.
As this text was printed, the tough contours of the combating in Hostomel and the entire of Ukraine had been solely simply changing into discernable. At one stage, Russian troops had been seen patrolling the airport. Ukrainian forces later counter-attacked, and claimed to have taken again the ability by the night. The sounds of the combating could possibly be heard from a number of kilometres away.
The battle is a pivotal one: Russian management of the airfield would enable extra troops and heavier gear to be airlifted in. Christo Grozev, the director of Bellingcat, an investigative group, stated that 18 Russian transport planes had left Pskov, house of the nation’s 76th Guards Air Assault Division, heading for Ukraine’s capital. These had been in all probability carrying giant numbers of paratroopers. “They’re making a transfer on Kyiv,” says a senior us defence official. British officers concur that Russian floor forces in Belarus are “advancing in the direction of” Kyiv. They seem to have captured the location of the Chernobyl reactor, to the north of the capital.
The wrestle for Hostomel was one of many first and most necessary battles between Russia and Ukraine within the struggle launched by Vladimir Putin shortly earlier than daybreak on February twenty fourth. It's quickly prone to turn into the biggest inter-state battle in Europe for the reason that Balkan wars of the Nineties. It has the potential to turn into a lot greater nonetheless.
Russia’s first assaults concerned volleys of missiles in opposition to necessary Ukrainian navy amenities, together with airports and air-defence radars—a tactic designed to permit Russian warplanes to fly safely over the nation. American officers say that Russia launched greater than 100 cruise and ballistic missiles from Belarus, Russia and warships at sea. Round 75 plane, together with bombers, are thought to have been concerned. Russia’s defence ministry says that it attacked 11 air bases and 18 air-defence websites, amongst different targets. Across the identical time, Russian floor forces—a few of the greater than 110 battalion tactical teams that Russia had amassed round Ukraine since November—crossed the border.
Monitoring their progress is troublesome. Russia and Ukraine share a lot of the identical Soviet-era navy gear. It's laborious to tell apart a Russian tank from a Ukrainian one within the satellite tv for pc imagery and mobile-phone footage that has offered a window into the Russian build-up and now the struggle. Even so, it quickly turned clear that Russian forces had made some necessary breakthroughs. By mid-afternoon Russian armour coming from Belgorod, one of many principal staging areas in western Russia (see map), had begun to encircle Kharkiv, the second-largest metropolis in Ukraine, within the east of the nation. Russian tanks had been close to the town’s ring street, stated its mayor, noting that there had been no civilian casualties. Within the metropolis of Okhtyrka, to the north-west of Kharkiv, video footage confirmed armoured autos on the street, buildings on hearth and small-arms hearth.
But it's removed from a rout. Ukraine’s military seems to have had extra alternatives to make use of anti-tank weapons than many supposed. America, Britain and different European allies gave Ukraine 1000's of such weapons, together with long-range American Javelins and shorter-range Anglo-Swedish nlaws, over the previous two months. In locations, these offered critical resistance to Russian advances within the north and east. It's thought that nlaws have by no means been utilized in fight earlier than. Video footage taken round Kharkiv seems to point out broken tanks. Ukrainian officers stated that Javelins and different weapons had “neutralised” a whole column of 15 t-72 tanks in Hlukhova, within the north-west of the nation near the Russian border. Ukraine’s fleet of Turkish drones, which have been used to good impact in latest wars in Libya, Syria and Azerbaijan, has additionally been used to mount assaults.
Ukraine put up a powerful battle across the airport at Hostomel, too. Ukraine’s armed forces say they shot down three out of the 34 helicopters despatched by Russia. A oka-52 helicopter was pictured, broken, on the bottom after an obvious pressured touchdown. Ukraine additionally paraded captured Russian personnel, whose insignia marked them out as members of the first Guards Tank Military, one among Russia’s most vaunted offensive items. Elsewhere, Ukraine’s armed forces declare to have secured the give up of a reconnaissance platoon close to Chernihiv, north-east of Kyiv, although this might not be verified.
Within the south, nevertheless, Russia’s ahead thrusts appeared to fulfill with higher success. “Russian forces are actually pouring into Ukraine from Crimea,” stated Konrad Muzyka of Rochan Consulting, who tracks Russian navy actions. So fast was their advance that some merely drove previous Ukrainian items heading within the different route. Ukraine’s ministry of defence stated there was combating round Genichesk, a port metropolis on the Sea of Azov to the north-east of Crimea, Skadovsk, to the north-west, and Chaplinka, a little bit method inland. Video footage from Genichesk confirmed prisoner transport vehicles belonging to the Rosgvardia, Russia’s nationwide guard. There was additionally heavy combating in Kherson, on the street to Odessa.
Earlier than the struggle, Western safety sources had stated that they anticipated Russia’s military to encircle Ukrainian forces west of the Donbas area, in japanese Ukraine, stopping them from falling again to guard the capital, and to advance on Kyiv from the south. Michael Kofman of CNA, an American analysis outfit, who had ready a map of Russia’s seemingly axes of invasion—and which was just like official assessments—says that “on the entire it seems comparatively shut as a illustration of the place Russian items are trying to advance”. Mr Kofman warns that solely a “fraction” of the Russian pressure has been dedicated thus far. “What we’re seeing is [the] very early hours of the marketing campaign.”
British defence intelligence stated that there had been “heavy casualties” on each side. Civilian casualties are unknown, although only a few have been reported thus far. The struggle “has despatched an ominous chill down my backbone”, stated Peter Maurer, president of the Worldwide Committee of the Pink Cross. “Now I concern elevated struggling, with the potential of huge casualty numbers and intensive destruction of civilian objects like water and electrical energy vegetation, in addition to mass displacement, trauma, household separation, and lacking individuals.” ■
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