On a remote plain on the Belarusian-Ukrainian border the morning of Feb. 24, hundreds of paratroopers from Russia’s 31st Guards Air Assault Brigade boarded helicopters they thought were bound for a training ground in western Belarus.
But once the units were airborne, senior officers turned to the men to tell them that they were actually at war with Ukraine.
Instead of Grodno, they entered Ukrainian airspace on their way to Hostomel airport near the capital city of Kyiv.
“The troops were f*****g shocked, people turned gray, especially considering we took fire in the air,” said Nikita Ponomarev, a paratrooper later captured by the Ukrainians.
In the 100 days since the surprise assault on Hostomel, Russia’s war on Ukraine has shifted from this style of rapid maneuvering to the grinding artillery duels and the creeping Russian advances now taking place in the east of the country.
Likewise, the 31st Guards Air Assault Brigade – an elite airborne regiment based in the southern Russian city of Ulyanovsk – has criss-crossed Ukraine as Moscow’s goals were re-formulated in the face of Ukrainian resistance.
To tell the story of the war so far, The Moscow Times reconstructed the movements of the 31st Brigade over 100 days of brutal fighting in Ukraine that has killed thousands and displaced millions.
