General Oleksandr Pavlyuk: 70 000 Russians invaded Kyiv region from Belarus in February 2022

In February 2022, 70 000 Russians and 7 000 armored vehicles invaded the Kyiv region from the territory of Belarus, covering 115 kilometers.

First Deputy Minister of Defense, Lieutenant General Oleksandr Pavlyuk, who then headed Kyiv Regional Military Administration told about this in an interview with "RBK".

He informed that after the landing of the Russian landing force at the airfield in Hostomel, the occupiers moved by helicopters to the area of Bucha Park, Borodyanka, Korolivka, Pyrohove, Okhotovka, Sofiivska Borshchagivka, and Leonivka.

In order to surround Kyiv, the Russians also began to advance to the Zhytomyr highway. According to Pavlyuk, Makarov became an important city on the way of the Russians to Kyiv — it was not taken under complete control, but bypassed. On the left bank, the Russians advanced in the direction of Horodna and Chernihiv, as well as in the direction of Sumy — Kyiv.

Pavlyuk also said that the most critical moment of the operation for the defense of Kyiv was the fighting in the village of Moschun. The victory under Makarov and Moschun formed the basis of the defeat of the enemy, and the storming of Kyiv failed.

The Irpin River became one of the main natural obstacles that prevented the Russian invaders from reaching the capital. To prevent them from moving to the other side of the river, the commander of the Ground Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Oleksandr Syrskyi ordered to blow up the dam. They decided to blow it up only partially: a stronger explosion threatened water hammer. The first detonation went according to plan, but did not bring the desired result — the Russians were already setting up a pontoon near Moschun. From the second explosion, the approaches to the pontoons became a solid swamp.

According to Pavlyuk, the destruction of the dam on the Irpin River did not allow the Russians to bring a sufficient number of pontoons and cross to the other bank. Thus, the Russian offensive was stopped.

• 1 374 Ukrainians died at the hands of the Russians in Kyiv region, including 38 children, 34 children were injured. 280 people are considered missing.