Ukrainian Troops RECAPTURE Kyiv Airport In Major Blow To Vladimir Putin After Day Of Fierce Fighting

Ukraine’s troops have retaken Kyiv airport from the Russians, just hours after losing it, in a major blow to Vladimir Putin, The Sun reports. The Ukrainian National Guard shared a photo of three soldiers holding a bullet-riddled Ukrainian flag, calling them the heroes of the battle.

It came just hours after Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ordered compulsory enlistment and banned all men aged 18 to 60 from leaving the country. Antonov Airport near the town of Hostomel, 20 miles from Kyiv, is seen as crucial to Russia’s invasion strategy, just outside the capital. But despite elite Russian airborne forces capturing the airport, by Friday, Ukraine’s government declared they had seized it back. Deputy Minister Anton Herashchenko made the announcement, according to The Kyiv Independent.

Ukraine’s National Guard tweeted a photo of three young soldiers holding up a Ukrainian flag filled with bullet holes.

“Guardsmen with their flag, torn to pieces after today’s battle,” it wrote. “Congratulations to all of you and say that we will win!”

But despite the recapture of the airport, Russia has made gains elsewhere, reportedly encircling the city of Konotop in eastern Ukraine as they head towards Kyiv.

Overnight, Kyiv was rocked by explosions, with reports a Ukrainian Su-27 warplane was shot down by Russian surface-to-air missiles.

Three people were wounded – two of them seriously – in separate blasts on residential areas, Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

Later reports state that eight people were injured in shellings of two apartment buildings.

Ukrainian forces have clashed with Russian tanks in Ivankiv, not far from Kyiv, as they make their way from the border with Belarus via the Chernobyl exclusion zone. Read more at The Sun.

{Matzav.com}