Russian troops are currently fighting on the outskirts of Kiev. Ukrainian forces try to keep them away. However, the first shots were already fired in the government district. Tragically, several children are among the dead.
US intelligence, meanwhile, warns of Moscow’s plan to seize an airport, fly in troops and “behead” the government.
Anton Herashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s Interior Minister, predicts: Friday will be the “toughest day” of the war. From Chernihiv (northeast of the capital) and Ivankiv (northwest), Russian tanks will attempt to encircle the city where President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is still entrenched.
The United States warned on Friday morning that Russian tanks were already fighting Ukrainian troops 32 kilometers from the city. Just a few hours later, clashes were reported in a northern district of the capital. The fighting apparently took place in Obolon, where the Defense Ministry asked residents to make Molotov cocktails to hurl at Russian tanks.
Once the city is encircled, US intelligence believes Russian special forces will advance and capture an airport — likely Sikorsky or Boryspil. A much larger force of up to 10,000 paratroopers will be flown in there to attack the capital.
The paratroopers’ mission: to track down Ukraine’s President, Zelensky, his ministers and parliamentarians, and then force them to sign a peace deal returning control of the country to Russia or a Moscow-backed puppet regime. This would effectively end the war without requiring Putin’s ground forces to go through the difficult and bloody task of conquering and occupying the entire country.
Russia may have almost accomplished the plan on the first day of the invasion. On Thursday, 20 helicopter gunships carrying troops landed at Antonov Airport, 24 kilometers north of Kiev. They spent the whole day fighting. However, Ukrainian National Guard units managed to retake the runway overnight and scatter the surviving Russian attackers into the countryside.
The Russian attack on the capital could be coordinated with a push by troops on the southern and eastern fronts – in Crimea and Donbass – to prevent Ukrainian forces from retreating and providing reinforcements in the city.
The operation could also involve bombing and sabotage of power grids and infrastructure to spread panic and force people to flee, clogging the roads and making it difficult for troops already in Kiev to advance.
