Marta Gichko23:58, 05/19/23
According to him, the Ukrainian soldiers delayed the key operation of the Russian Federation in the Kiev direction, gaining time.
The plans of the Russian invaders regarding Ukraine were broken at the beginning of the war. However, the capture of Kiev was quite real.
As the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate Kirill Budanov said in an interview with journalist Dmitry Komarov, the Russians would take Kyiv if they could quickly land troops in Gostomel.
“The plans were broken from the very beginning. Their (occupiers – UNIAN) rapid landing failed. It all dragged on for half a day, and during this time units of the Armed Forces pulled up, which made such a landing impossible with artillery fire, even in theory,” Budanov said.
The journalist recalled that at that time the Armed Forces of Ukraine damaged the runway of the airfield in Gostomel with artillery fire, making it unsuitable for landing heavy transport aircraft. None of them sat down.
To a clarifying question, what would happen if the Russian troops were still able to land in Gostomel, Budanov replied:
“Sorry, but Kyiv would have been taken.”
Russia would take Kyiv if it landed in GostomelRussia would take Kyiv if it landed in Gostomel
Kyiv “in three days”
Earlier, in Dmitry Komarov’s documentary “Rik”, Budanov said that the Russian invaders really tried to take Kiev in three days. According to him, the landing of troops near Kyiv and in the capital was the only plan for the Russians. Next – “raise the flag over the presidential administration with the change of leadership.”
As Ukrayinska Pravda found out later, at the beginning of a full-scale war against Ukraine, the Kremlin had two plans for managing Kiev, which the invaders dreamed of capturing in three days.
(C)UNIAN 2023
Well, it’s a mystery to me how you can capture a city the size of Kyiv with so few forces. It’s just not possible, especially with everyone and their grandmothers throwing Molotovs at you from countless windows and rooftops.
The russians were hoping that Zelensky would get out of the country at the first opportunity, leaving Ukraine leaderless. When he stayed, that united the rest of the country. I agree that they never could take Kyiv with so few troops, they couldn’t even get past Bucha and Irpin, and they still had 15km to after that.