Inside abandoned airport Putin's troops stormed to destroy world's biggest plane
An abandoned airport home to the world's biggest plane was entered by Russian troops on the first day of the war in Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin's soldiers entered the country on February 24, 2022, and one of the first casualties of war was a massive aircraft left behind at the non-functioning landing strip of Hostomel Airport. The war-torn airstrip had thwarted Russia's seizure of Kyiv though his troops had taken to destroying the massive vehicle left behind.
Ukrainian troops soon found themselves back in control of the airport, with members of a squadron holding a Ukrainian flag spotted at the site of Hostomel's massive barracks on April 2, 2022. But the onslaught at the now abandoned airport had caught Ukrainians by surprise, according to the head of airport control and dispatch, Volodymyr Smus.
Smus recalled the surprise onslaught of Russian choppers, which soon took over the place where the An-225 Mriya was positioned. He said: "We were not prepared for war. The airfield was preparing for the reception of Boeing and Antonov planes. Missile strikes on the territory of the airfield were considered at planning meetings. But [not] a full-scale invasion."
Dozens of airport employees, Smus included, had been warned of Putin's possible attack on the area. They attempted to protect the planes, moving the aircraft to different areas around the airport a short while before the invasion. It was decided the Mriya - a plane with twice the capacity of a Boeing 747 - would be left in its hanger to protect pilots from potentially being shot down.
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Putin's troops held on to the airport from the first days of the invasion of Ukraine (Future Publishing via Getty Imag)As the helicopters flew over the airport, staff members were left with no choice but to flee to a nearby bomb shelter while others dived into a sewer system. Vitalii Rudenko, commander of the Ukrainian airfield's national guard, said: "We didn’t see them because they flew so low to the ground. We saw them when they came above the trees and they started shooting at the airport.
"I probably didn’t believe until the last moment that this was possible, that a full-scale offensive was possible, but after the first group of helicopters, I understood that it had really begun. When we received the shelling from the helicopters I gave the order to fire back. We were trying to shoot down the helicopters."
As Russia "dominated us in the air", Rudenko gave the order to retreat from the airport. Local civilians showed up to aid troops in surrounding the airport, which was accomplished on February 24, just two days after war broke out in Ukraine. Russian forces partially repaired the airport over the coming days but did not have a functional airstrip on their hands. Ukrainian military bombardments left the Mriya destroyed but also dealt damage to Russian equipment, vehicles and personnel.
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