

On 24 February 2022, around 05:30 am local time, President Putin announced a " special military operation" to " demilitarise and denazify" Ukraine.

On the left of the middle image the hangar containing the Antonov An-225 Mriya can be seen in the distance. The crew dismounted the Ka-52 and manned defensive positions to wait for evacuation by another Russian helicopter strike group on its way to Antonov Airport. The Ka-52 evaded multiple MANPADS before being hit by one and conducting an emergency landing in a nearby field.
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The Ka-52 was providing close air support for the landing Russian forces and covered a Russian Mi-8 transport helicopter full of Russian paratroopers. Battle 24 February 2022 Ĭockpit view inside a Russian Ka-52 attack helicopter conducting a low flying sortie over Antonov Airport on 24 February. Regardless, the airport only held a small garrison of about 300 National Guard troops, as the remainder had been moved to the frontline in eastern Ukraine. However, the warnings by the CIA and Kireyev helped the Ukrainian military to prepare for an attack on Antonov Airport. Madison Policy Forum analyst John Spencer argued that this would have secured a military victory for Russia, albeit probably producing a massive Ukrainian insurgency.
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Analysts believed that President of Russia Vladimir Putin and the rest of the Russian leadership assumed that such a quick operation would throw Ukraine into disarray, resulting in the collapse of the Ukrainian military and allowing Russia to install a puppet government. According to Kyrylo Budanov, Chief of Ukraine's Main Directorate of Intelligence, banker Denys Kireyev obtained information on 23 February 2022 from Russian sources that the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine would begin on 24 February and that Antonov Airport would be the site of the main attack of the invasion. Burns travelled to Ukraine in January 2022, and informed the Ukrainian leadership that Russia intended to capture Antonov Airport for an airbridge, which would allow Russian forces to quickly move into Kyiv to "decapitate the government". In the time leading up to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) obtained detailed information about Russian attack plans. The airport hosted the only Antonov An-225 Mriya, the world's largest airplane and was also used as an airstrip for the Ukrainian Air Force.Īs Hostomel is located just outside Kyiv, around 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) away, and could give quick access to the capital, it was strategically important. The airport was owned and operated by the Antonov State Enterprise, the Ukrainian state-owned aerospace and air defense company. The Antonov An-225 Mriya, the world's largest airplane, was destroyed in its hangar during the battle.Īntonov Airport, or the Hostomel Airport, is a major international cargo airport located in the town of Hostomel, just at the outskirts of the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv. Despite this, the unexpected Ukrainian resistance foiled the plans of a quick capitulation of Kyiv, and the airport was too damaged to be used as a functional airstrip. The airport was then captured by the Russian forces. The attack resumed on the next day with another air assault by the VDV combined with a ground assault by armored reinforcements coming from the Belarusian border, breaking through the Ukrainian defenses. However, the Ukrainian military responded with a counter-attack which encircled the unsupported Russian forces and repelled the initial assault. The airport held strategic value as it was located less than 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) outside of the capital Kyiv, which would allow Russian troops to airlift more troops and heavier equipment to directly threaten the city. On 24 February 2022, a few hours after President of Russia Vladimir Putin announced the beginning of a " special military operation" in Ukraine, Russian troops of the Russian Airborne Forces (VDV) made an air assault on Antonov Airport with the objective of capturing it. The Battle of Antonov Airport, also known as the Battle of Hostomel Airport, was a military engagement which occurred at the Antonov Airport in Hostomel, Kyiv Oblast, during the Kyiv offensive of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Ust-Ilimsk military commissariat shooting.Strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure.Several Ukrainian National Guardsmen captured Unknown number of ground troops, tanks, and armored vehicles as reinforcements.One hundred to several hundred airborne troops.

141st Motorized Regiment (" Kadyrovites").Russian capture of Antonov Airport (subsequent Russian withdrawal on 28 March 2022)
