Russian troops were allotted just 13 hours to leave Belarus and seize Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, but 10 months on from Vladimir Putin’s original war plans, optimism may no longer be so high. Putin wanted to crush Ukraine in 13 hours, according to leaked invasion plan.
Instead of the 10 months it has since lasted, Russian President Vladimir Putin had intended for the invasion of the Ukrainian capital city to last just 13 hours, reports Dailystar.
According to documents from the inner circle of the Russian leader, Putin had such faith in his forces that he thought Kyiv would’ve been seized in less than a day.
That is definitely not the case after 10 months of horrific combat in Ukraine, but it seems that Putin’s earlier plans revealed no hint of “reinforcements” for troops attacking the capital city.
According to plans, troops would arrive on the outskirts of Kyiv at 2:55 p.m., after traveling 140 kilometres from their starting location on the Belarusian border.
However, rather than proceeding in the originally planned 13-hour window, Russian soldiers discovered their invasion plans shattered.
According to the report, “no forces or equipment or reinforcements” were on their way for the troops who were dispatched into Ukraine, one of them told of the terrifying encounter he had 90 kilometres away from Kyiv.
He said: “In the first battle the column was ambushed and I was wounded. For 24 hours, I was missing a leg, lying in a field waiting for my unit to come get me.”
The forces had already been dispatched to the outskirts of Ukraine just 13 hours after crossing the border from Belarus, but they were nowhere near.
Russian forces seem to have made it as far as Chernihiv, where the 30,000-strong force heading to the capital was met with anti-tank artillery from Ukrainian troops.
Russia was supposedly so convinced in their half-day war that they dispatched national guard and ordinary police, assuming they would be required to manage crowds after they seized the city.
One Ukrainian source said: “Our guys couldn’t believe it. They just picked them off as they were driving towards Kyiv. This is when we realised the Russians might not be so hard to beat after all.”
Putin is under pressure in Moscow as a result of the Russian army’s ongoing struggles in Ukraine, which have spurred new claims that former allies within the Kremlin are trying to topple him. Is Putin really facing a coup?
Several other Ukrainian insiders are concerned that Putin may try to retake Kyiv in the new year, with one adding, “Protecting our border, both with Russia and Belarus, is our constant priority.”
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