4 years ago, the Battle for Kyiv ended with the defeat and retreat of the russian troops.

From the first day of the russian invasion, February 24, 2022, it became obvious that one of the main goals of the russian troops was to capture the capital of Ukraine – the city of Kyiv.
Initially, the russians tried to capture Kyiv with a lightning strike over 2-3 days. They landed troops from helicopters at the Gostomel airfield, 10 km from Kyiv. And they intended to receive transport planes with troops there. But the defenders thwarted these plans by damaging the runway.

Then the russians tried to surround the Ukrainian capital. The invaders attacked the Ukrainian capital from three sides – from the northwest, from the northeast and from the east. Particularly fierce battles were fought on the northwestern outskirts of Kyiv, where the russians captured the satellite towns of the capital - Bucha, Vorzel and Gostomel. In the area of the village of Moshchun, they crossed the Irpin River and came very close to Kyiv. However, Ukrainian troops blew up a dam, which made it difficult for the invaders to cross, and then destroyed the russian bridgehead with artillery fire.

From the first days of the russian invasion, thousands of Kyivans took up arms and joined the Ukrainian army. With artillery and air strikes, and ambushes, the Ukrainians paralyzed many-kilometer columns of russian equipment. In the north-eastern direction, the Russian offensive was stopped near the city of Brovary, approximately 33 km from Kyiv, where Ukrainian artillerymen defeated a large column of russian equipment. In the eastern direction, russian columns got stuck, not reaching Kyiv, as Ukrainian troops paralyzed their fuel supply.

Unable to surround Kyiv, on March 21, the russians went on the defensive. Instead, Ukrainian troops, having increased their forces, went on the counteroffensive on March 22 and soon completely seized the initiative. Within a week, the russian defense collapsed.

On March 29, 2022, the russians announced their intention to “reduce military activity in the Kyiv direction”. This was an attempt to pass off their military defeat as a diplomatic “gesture of goodwill”, but in fact it marked a mass retreat, which under the blows of Ukrainian troops very soon turned into a flight.

On March 31, the Ukrainian Defense Forces liberated Bucha. But the joy of liberation was overshadowed by the facts of russian war crimes discovered here. It turned out that the russian invaders were mass killing civilians.

Meanwhile, russian troops began to retreat at a rate of 20–30 kilometers per day, dropping everything that hindered speed. Ukrainian artillerymen “helped” the russians to flee faster. Among other things, in the defeated russian columns they found a parade uniform in which the invaders intended to march along the main street of the Ukrainian capital. But the defenders of Kyiv put an end to these plans. On April 2, russian troops finally left the Kyiv region – Ukrainian troops reached the state border. The battle for Kyiv lasted 36 days and ended in a complete strategic failure of the russian “special military operation”. The occupiers lost thousands of pieces of equipment and the best airborne units. The Ukrainian capital remained free, and the world saw that the “second army of the world” praised by moscow propagandists could be defeated and not just retreat, but flee in panic.