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Ukrainian Artillery Thwarts Hostomel Airborne Landing, Shifts War

If you’d like, I can tell you what future history textbooks will write about the moment when the first and most decisive turning point occurred -- the one that, much later, ultimately led to the defeat of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It happened at around 5:00 p.m. Kyiv time on February 24, 2022. That was when the artillery of Ukraine’s thrice-glorious 72nd Mechanized Brigade arrived in time and inflicted critical damage on the runway of the Antonov airfield in Hostomel. By doing so, they made it impossible for numerous Russian Il-76 transport aircraft carrying more airborne troops to land at the captured airfield on the doorstep of Kyiv, as had been planned. The time needed for the artillery to arrive had been bought by a handful of fiercely defending fighters from the 4th Rapid Response Brigade of Ukraine’s National Guard and military intelligence, who held the Antonov airfield against the assault. The unexpected failure of the Russian airborne “Hostomel landing” was not the only key victory, but it was the first and most important one -- the moment that, by the end of the very first day of the invasion, had already turned the blitzkrieg into a failure. Ukraine held firm, preserved its morale and command structure, and delivered a fierce fight to the invaders. The rest is what you know as history. The fate of the free world was decided there and then.