Posted at 6:00 a.m.
The airport
On Thursday, a Russian commando took control of Gostomel (Hostomel) airport, northwest of Kiev. The Ukrainian army retook the airport the same day, but on Friday a heavy Russian helicopter attack finally overcame Ukrainian resistance.
Why was it so important for Russia to take this airport?
“Russia probably has four goals,” says Ben Connable, a political scientist at the RAND think tank who led a 2020 study on the 2014 Russian invasion of Ukraine. “She wants to prevent Ukrainians from using it. Then, it wants to use it for its helicopters and its planes, and also to transport airborne troops there. Finally, taking an airport is an important symbol in the conquest of a city, as we saw in 1991 with the airport of Kuwait and in 2003 with that of Baghdad. »
PHOTO UMIT BEKTAS, REUTERS
Boryspil International Airport, southeast of Kiev, on Thursday
Russia also repeatedly attacked Boryspil airport, southeast of Kiev, on Friday, which hosts international passenger flights and received Western arms shipments in January and February.
Gostomel airport could also serve as a headquarters to lead the conquest of Kiev, according to Jeffrey Edmonds, political scientist at the Center for a New American Security, who participated Friday morning in a virtual forum on Russian military strategy. “I was surprised that the Russians were sending troops into Ukraine so quickly, instead of bombing the targets for several days,” Edmonds said of Thursday’s Ukrainian counterattack in Gostomel. “In my opinion, they don’t have enough missiles and they’ve been overly optimistic about their ability to convince the Ukrainian military to surrender. »
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The An-225, the largest cargo plane in the world
Note: Gostomel airport, which is reserved for cargo ships, is also called Antonov because this aircraft manufacturer tests its models there. The world’s largest cargo plane, the An-225, is stationed there, and rumors on aviation enthusiast websites said on Friday it had been destroyed. Only one copy of the An-225 was built, to transport the Soviet space shuttle Buran.
the island
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Serpents’ Island in the Black Sea
Serpents’ Island is an outpost of Ukraine in the Black Sea. The coast is 30 km away and the nearest town is Romanian, not Ukrainian. On Thursday, she entered Ukrainian military legend.
President Volodymyr Zelensky bestowed the title of “heroes” on the 13 border guards who died in a Russian bombardment of the half-kilometer-wide island, which has no other inhabitants.
“Russian warship, fuck off,” a soldier reportedly said to the Russian officer who was calling on the Ukrainian garrison on Serpents’ Island to surrender or risk being bombarded.
Russia denies there were any fatalities and claims the Ukrainian garrison surrendered without a fight.
The island was the scene of another battle, in 1788, between Russia and the Ottoman Empire, which called the island Fidonisi. The Battle of Fidonisi, between two fleets totaling one hundred ships, ended in a draw.
Serpents’ Island was in ancient times called “Achilles Island” because of a temple dedicated to the hero, which was destroyed in the 1840s when the Russians built a lighthouse there. The Russians had conquered it in 1829 during another war with the Ottoman Empire.
Chernobyl
GLEB GARANICH PHOTO, REUTERS ARCHIVES
View of the Chernobyl power plant in 2018
Chernobyl, site of the 1986 nuclear accident, is a two-hour drive north of Kiev, near the Belarusian border. The area is located on the invasion route of Russian forces. The former nuclear power plant was thus captured on Thursday, and Ukraine reported abnormally high levels of radioactivity due to the departure of its technicians.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) felt the hot soup and decided on Friday to calm things down. “The IAEA believes that the regulator’s readings – up to 9.46 microsieverts per hour – are low and remain within the operational range measured in the exclusion zone since its inception, and that it does not there is therefore no danger for the public, ”said the Viennese organization in a press release.
PHOTO SERGEI SUPINSKY, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ARCHIVES
Ukrainian soldier during exercises in the ghost town of Pripyat, near the Chernobyl power plant, on February 4.
The increase in radioactivity could be due to the passage of “heavy military vehicles” having stirred up the contaminated soil, Ukraine told the IAEA.
Russia indicated that the Ukrainian technicians who took care of the security of the nuclear site were still in place and were collaborating with the Russian military. The White House for its part told the BBC that the Ukrainian technicians had been “taken hostage” by the Russians.
A 32 km exclusion zone prohibits any human activity around the old plant. The reactor that exploded in 1986 was isolated and the plant’s three other reactors were taken out of service in 2000.