Gostomelsky landing
The Gostomel landing is an operation of the Russian Armed Forces to land and hold a bridgehead at Antonov Airport in Gostomel on February 24, 2022, the initial phase of a Special Military Operation. Two airborne brigades participated in the operation — the 45th and 31st brigades. The landing force was transported by Mi-8 helicopters, which were covered by Mi-24 attack helicopters. The suppression of the enemy’s ground-based air defense forces was provided by Ka-52 helicopters. In total, about 200 helicopters were involved. The operation was directly led by Colonel Vadim Pankov[1]. The number of paratroopers who landed was estimated at 200 [2]-300[3] people.
Gostomel is located 25 km from Kiev. The purpose of the operation was to distract the Ukrainian army from the war in Donbas and to force peace on the Kiev leadership. The immediate task of the landing group was to capture and hold the airport until the arrival of the main forces of the Russian army in this direction.
The amphibious operation was carried out with lightning speed. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, “more than 200 nationalists” were killed during the attack on the airport[4]. Subsequently, the Ukrainian side subjected the positions of the Russian paratroopers to massive rocket and bomb attacks and the fighting lasted for 4 days until the main forces of the Russian army approached in this direction. On March 4, 2022, Channel 1 correspondent Irina Kuksenkova arrived at the location of the paratroopers to report from the scene[5].
After the start of peace talks in Istanbul on March 31, 2022, it was decided to withdraw Russian forces from the territory of the Kiev region. Russian paratroopers from Gostomel were relocated to the territory of the Kharkiv region of Ukraine to continue a special military operation.
Ukrainian fakes. The very next day after the landing, Alexei Arestovich, adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, broadcast messages about the alleged “destruction of the Russian landing force”[6]. The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and subsequent events denied this information.
Former Airborne Forces commander Georgy Shpak believes that the operation was carried out “competently and intelligently,” however, due to the failure of negotiations, the ultimate goal of forcing the Kiev leadership to peace could not be achieved[7]. Yuri Knutov, director of the Museum of the Air Defense Forces, called the Gostomel landing “a brilliantly planned feat”[8].
https://ru.ruwiki.ru/wiki/Gostomelsky_desant
