Inside abandoned airport with wreck of world’s biggest plane stormed by Putin’s troops on DAY ONE of war in Ukraine

THIS is Ukraine's abandoned Hostomel Airport, a war-torn airstrip that thwarted Russia's seizure of Kyiv in the early days of Putin's brutal invasion.

Now home to the wreck of the world's largest plane, fragments of other aircraft, and a non-functional landing strip, the airport's battle scars tell the tale of Russia's worst blunder.

Exactly two years ago, the Russian tyrant sent sorties of helicopters to take Hostomel in an audacious flying assault.

But today Volodymyr Zelensky hosted Western leaders on the shell-scarred tarmac - a sign of his country's strength and defence.

Some 730 days ago however, Europe awoke to shocking videos of Russian helicopters streaking over western Ukraine.

Flying so low the Ukrainian military couldn't see them, it wasn't until they started shooting at the airport that their position was revealed.

Head of the airport's control and dispatch centre Volodymyr Smus recalled how the onslaught of helicopters took him by surprise.

Speaking to , Smus said: “We were not prepared for war.

"The airfield was preparing for the reception of Boeing and Antonov planes.

“Missile strikes on the territory of the airfield were considered at planning meetings. But [not] a full-scale invasion.”

Having been warned about the possibility that Putin would attack the airport, Smus had been on-site alongside dozens of other employees trying to protect the planes.

The decision was made to move the aircraft to different areas around the airport so that it wouldn't be destroyed in the first attack.

Begrudgingly, they also decided to leave Mriya - the mammoth of a plane that had twice the capacity of a Boeing 747 - in its hangar, to protect pilots from the potential being shot down.

Not long after, the helicopters arrived.

Tens of airport employees were still on-site, forced to run for cover as the Russian invaders opened fire.

Some 80 employees made it into the bomb shelter, while others had no choice but to dive into the sewers.

The heroic defence

Commander of the Ukrainian airfield's national guard, Vitalii Rudenko, had been warned of conflict hours earlier.

He and his unit of 120 soldiers had been preparing for war for almost a week, but he still couldn't believe it was happening.

Rudenko told Gobal News: “We didn’t see them because they flew so low to the ground.

“We saw them when they came above the trees and they started shooting at the airport.”

It comes as

• The world marks two years since Putin's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022
• Ukraine continues to mount a valiant defence - but is calling for more weapons
• Russia has lost an estimated 400,000 soldiers and has captured less than 20 per cent of Ukraine
• World leaders have arrived in Kyiv - and Boris Johnson has jetted to Ukraine
• Putin lost a £300million spy plane last night, and Russia's largest steel plant was hit by drones
• An ex-US general laid out the SIX key ways Ukraine can defeat Russia
• Ukrainian model and mum Iryna Bilotserkovets revealed how Putin's troops shot her in the head
• David Cameron urged allies to 'show me the money' over Ukraine
• Russia's chief justice died just days after a meeting with Putin - in yet another high-profile death

“I probably didn’t believe until the last moment that this was possible, that a full-scale offensive was possible, but after the first group of helicopters, I understood that it had really begun.”

Ukrainian military described a terrifying scene of a flying tank, known as the Mi-24 helicopter, being tailed by 30 helicopters - including a K-52 Alligator, thought to be the chopper capable of the most damage.

Rudenko told his troops to aim at the sky.

He said: “When we received the shelling from the helicopters I gave the order to fire back.

"We were trying to shoot down the helicopters.”

Rudenko's unit were able to destroy six, damage two more, and force the K-52 to crash into the Dnieper River.

The defence was able to hold it's ground, until the paratroopers arrived.

Troops poured out in their masses, turning a barrage of machine guns onto Rudenko's comparably small unit.

Rudenko said: “Our enemy dominated us in the air, and they had many more paratroopers.

“To save the lives of our team, we had to retreat.”

It later emerged that an airport employee had been corrupted by Russian intelligence to give these positions away.

The bloody battle

Despite an initial victory against the Ukrainian defence, the Russians were no match for the local armed civilians who rushed to help their soldiers.

Civilians, assisted by Ukrainian artillery - who shelled the airport's landing strips to prevent Russian planes from landing - pushed back against the invaders.

These civilians played an essential role in holding ground to allow a large-scale counterattack from the National Guard and Ukrainian Air Force.

Ukraine rushed in hundreds of troops, whilst warplanes that had survived the first Russian missile strikes were used to protect units on the ground.

Russian aircraft with reinforcements were deterred from landing, and forced to return to Russia.

By the evening on February 24, Ukrainian military forces had surrounded the airport.

The oncoming days saw an invigorated push from the Russian side - with armoured vehicles from Belarus accompanied by heavy air strikes.

Some of the vehicles that set out from Belarus on February 25 were ambushed, but Russian reinforcements were eventually able to enter the airport.

The Ukrainian defenders were quickly expelled, and claims emerged that Russia had taken Hostomel.

Although the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs initially denied that Russia had captured the airport, by February 26 it had been confirmed.

On February 27, Russia turned its attention from the airport towards the towns of Bucha and Irpin - where they had previously been blocked by Ukrainian resistance.

Try as they might, besieging the towns, killing and torturing anyone that stood in their way, they still couldn't break through the defence.