Galeotto, Mark/Groult, Edouard A. (Illustr.) Kyiv 2022

The battle for Ukraine's capital

In 2022, Vladimir Putin was convinced that he could take Kiev within a few weeks with minimal fighting, install a puppet government and bring Ukraine under his control. In this book, Mark Galeotti explains how Russia's lightning conquest was conceived and planned, and how it was thwarted. He explains that Russian commanders had not anticipated a war and were forced into an unprepared invasion, and how they nevertheless made a concerted attempt to capture Hostomel Airport and take the capital from there, with mercenaries tasked with hunting down the government. But resistance from the Ukrainian military and civilian population thwarted the attack, and within a month the Russians were already in retreat, leaving behind the smoking remains of the 40-mile-long invasion column outside Kyiv. This book draws heavily on Russian and Ukrainian sources, including interviews with soldiers who participated in the operation, and is richly illustrated with photographs, original artwork and maps. It is the most detailed and compelling study of this operation available in English. It is the story of an attack whose failure marked both the end of Putin's expectations of an easy victory and the beginning of the reorientation of the war towards the south-east.