The Battle of Vasylkiv was a military engagement between the

Russian Federation Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

and

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

on 26 February 2022, during the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

Battle

In the early morning of 26 February, paratroopers of the

Russian Airborne Forces The Russian Airborne Forces (russian: Воздушно-десантные войска России, ВДВ, Vozdushno-desantnye voyska Rossii, VDV) are the airborne forces branch of the Russian Armed Forces. It was formed in 1992 from units o ...

began landing near the city of

Vasylkiv Vasylkiv (, uk, Васильків, lit=, translit=Vasylʹkiv, yi, וואַסלקעוו, Vasilikev) is a city located on the Stuhna River in Obukhiv Raion, Kyiv Oblast (province) in central Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Vasylkiv urb ...

, south of Kyiv, in an attempt to secure

Vasylkiv Air Base Vasylkiv (also Vasyl'kiv) was an air base of the Ukrainian Air Force located near Vasylkiv, Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine. The base was home to the 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade. History On the beginning of Operation Barbarossa in June 1941, the airfield ...

. Heavy fighting between the Russian paratroopers and Ukrainian defenders occurred in the city. According to Ukrainian officials, at 01:30, a Ukrainian Su-27 fighter jet shot down a Russian

Ilyushin Il-76 The Ilyushin Il-76 (russian: Илью́шин Ил-76; NATO reporting name: Candid) is a multi-purpose, fixed-wing, four-engine turbofan strategic airlifter designed by the Soviet Union's Ilyushin design bureau. It was first planned as a comm ...

carrying paratroopers. At 03:20, a second Il-76 was allegedly shot down over the nearby city of

Bila Tserkva Bila Tserkva ( uk, Бі́ла Це́рква ; ) is a city in the center of Ukraine, the largest city in Kyiv Oblast (after Kyiv, which is the administrative center, but not part of the oblast), and part of the Right Bank. It serves as the admi ...

. The mayor of Vasylkiv, Natalia Balasynovych, stated that over 200 Ukrainians were wounded in the engagement. She later claimed that Ukrainian forces had repelled the assault by Russian paratroopers on the military air base near the city and the central street, with the situation in the city having calmed down. ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' reported that Ukrainian forces patrolled the city in the morning and were searching for Russian stragglers. Confirmation of the Russian Il-76 losses has yet to be produced. According to

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

, "no convincing public evidence has surfaced about the two downed planes, or about a drop of paratroopers in Vasylkiv". The

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

cited unnamed Ukrainian officials, that at least part of the attackers were sleeper cells, who, according to the mayor of Vasylkiv, Natalia Balasynovych, had bought apartments and brought their families in the month before the invasion. Ukrainian territorial defense units had not found any evidence of wrecked planes in the surrounding area.

Aftermath

February and March

In the early morning of 27 February, a Russian missile struck an oil depot in Vasylkiv, setting it ablaze. On 12 March, a Russian rocket attack destroyed the air base.

April

On 2 April 2022 the whole of

Kyiv Oblast Kyiv Oblast ( uk, Ки́ївська о́бласть, translit=Kyïvska oblast), also called Kyivshchyna ( uk, Ки́ївщина), is an oblast (province) in central and northern Ukraine. It surrounds, but does not include, the city of Kyiv, w ...

, where Vasylkiv is located in, was declared free of "invaders" by the

Ukrainian Ministry of Defense Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

after Russian troops had left the area.Ukraine ‘retakes whole Kyiv region’ as Russia looks east

Al Jazeera Al Jazeera ( ar, الجزيرة, translit-std=DIN, translit=al-jazīrah, , "The Island") is a state-owned Arabic-language international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and operated by the media conglomerate Al Jazeera ...

(3 April 2022)

References

{{coord missing, Ukraine February 2022 events in Ukraine

Kyiv offensive (2022) Vasylkiv History of Kyiv Oblast

Battle

Aftermath

February and March

April

See also

References